Beauty pageants are one thing that I've never been able to identify with. You just don't see flat-chested, chubby-cheeked Asians on the Miss America stage. Additionally, I haven't even heard the words "beauty pageant" since Sarah Palin was still making daily news, but the pageantry world arrived just down the street from Sonoma State on Saturday night.
The "Miss Sonoma County" pageant took place at the Spreckels Performing Arts center, where Sonoma State's own Kimberly Stout took the top prize. Stout is a Theater major and competed against 11 other contestants, including four other Sonoma State students: Business major Rachel Picard, Biology major Devika Sood, Theater major Brenda Weaver and Nursing major Meghon Pinto, who placed second runner-up. Stout will now compete for the Miss California title in June, the second step to competing for the coveted Miss America title.
"Pageants are so much more than looking good on stage," said Pinto, a sophomore who also competed in the pageant last year. "I really wanted a way to get involved in the community and meet new people. I love the friends as well as the close family of committee members that I've made in these past years."
But pageantry has always had a rather negative reputation to deal with, thanks to that stereotypical image of the air-headed American blonde (2007's Miss Teen South Carolina), and I've always been a shameless perpetrator. However, people in the pageantry world insist that there is more to its contestants than vapid smiles and flawless foundation.
"It's not just people parading on stage," said Edy King, executive director for the Miss Sonoma County pageant. "What we're trying to do is get scholarship dollars to young women."
"The scholarship money is the main reason [I compete], especially in the current economy," said Weaver, a junior. "The Miss America Organization is the biggest scholarship provider for women in the world."
Still, this is not the image that most people have in mind when it comes to beauty pageants. It's a far cry from the images of swimsuit competitions or the always original Q&A sessions that lend themselves to topics such as "world peace." Some feminist organizations still consider these pageants demeaning towards young women, especially considering the American beauty pageant did originate as a 1921 hotel owner's marketing tool to encourage longer visits.
Yet throughout the decades, the pageant has evolved. Beauty is, blessedly, no longer the only criteria being judged (though it is certainly one of the most important components), and in 1945 scholarship grants began accompanying the winning title. But despite the attractive sums of scholarship money awarded, it seems that fewer and fewer girls are becoming interested in pageantry. Since the beginning of the selection period in September, the Miss Sonoma County directors have experienced some trouble in attracting contestants.
"It was really difficult," said King. "People have a tendency to shy away until they come in and meet us and see what we're all about."
King has been a volunteer (the pageant is run entirely by unpaid community members) for 17 years, and this is her seventh year as executive director. She has worked hard to quash the negative impressions that people, like me, have of this kind of competition.
"Come and see one of our pageants. Get to know us and what our community involvement is. See the young women who've gone on to do incredible work. We've had such success stories," she said. "I could go on and on about the pageant-I'm proud of it."
"Being in a pageant has paid for all of my books, a portion of my tuition and other things I've needed to continue my education," said Pinto. "Now, does that sound negative?"
As we make our way into Women's History Month, the pageant looks like an opportunity for girls to make their way into higher education and kick a hole through the thick glass ceiling.
But this has never been a competition about equality for women-or between them. Until 1970, the pageant was an all-white competition.
Still, even if looks are not the singular focus of the pageant, they will never be removed as a requirement. Up until the late 1980s, the pageant continued to record the competitors' bust, waist, and hip measurements. The big white smiles, makeup and overall concentration on physical appearance will always take greater precedence over the moral and intellectual capacities of young women, because we've made beauty a requirement for being the female American role model.
As the competition works its way up to the national level, these glossy representations of American women stray farther and farther from the norm. They project an image that is largely inaccessible to the young girls who try to embody it. And while beauty may not be the only necessity, it will always be essential to earning Miss America's title and scholarships. Your accomplishments will not matter if your face doesn't appeal to America.
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