There She Is, Miss America by Kendall

There She Is, Miss America by Kendall - September 2021 Scholarship Essay

Even though the first Miss America Beauty Pageant was in 1921, the origin of beauty pageants dates all the way back to ancient Greece when a dispute was settled among the goddesses…who was most beautiful? As a young girl, I was always enamored at these beautiful, powerful women who were poised and articulate. I wanted to be like them. Until recently, I supported pageants. I’ve never been in one, but in my naïve opinion they were advantageous. They appear to promote diversity which allows the young women to learn about others and their cultures. Preparing for a pageant requires self-discipline and motivation to be your best and do your best. Many of these women, and even the pageant organizations, give back to charitable causes. It teaches young women competition skills, people skills, and of course it provides them with opportunities. Lastly, it gives these young women a platform in which they can speak on global matters that are important to them. I thought pageants gave women a voice.

Contrary to what I once thought to be true, my eyes have been opened to ideas I had not considered. After a discussion in one of my classes, I realize that pageants have ingrained unrealistic standards for beauty into young girls that are watching. Nearly all pageants consist of women that are tall, fit, and beautiful by standards set by society. These pageants subtly imply that one must fit these standards to be successful. This is unrealistic and can potentially cause low self-esteem in younger females watching and most certainly contribute to body image issues in the contestants. Another misconception was thinking how wonderful it was that pageants can be a source of scholarship money to young women that are low-income. However, learning to fit the mold and be skinny and pretty isn’t something we should teach young girls as a means to get money for college. And yes, even though pageants do promote community and cultural diversity, you can still find community and cultural diversity by joining other organizations or even playing a sport to help pay for college.

Women are already under an immense amount of pressure to dress and look a certain way. Pageant contestants of all ages often wear a great deal of makeup, get spray tans, use false eyelashes, and even go to the extreme to get fake teeth. This is putting an unhealthy emphasis on outward appearance. It is damaging one’s self-worth. While I do believe that there are good intentions behind some pageants, my belief that involvement in them yields mostly positive results has been challenged. I have come to the conclusion that these contests are not only promoting stereotypes, they are also setting unrealistic beauty standards for young women and girls. If we want to achieve equality for women, we have to stop the acceptance of beauty contests that objectify women.