The Eyes of the Beholder
On a recent Saturday night in Bangalore, India, while so-called feminists and fundamentalists were demonstrating against phantom exploitation, Miss Greece was crowned as Miss World. That same night, half a world away, I attended the Beauties of America annual pageant in Orlando, Fla. The difference between the two pageants was not only location and lack of tasteless protest but also the age of the contestants. Miss World, like most of the major pageants, is geared toward women 18 to 25. Beauties of America celebrates women of all ages. Each decade, 20s to 60s, competes with others the same age. Five women are crowned.
As I watched the pageant, I realized that the women in their 60s were every bit as beautiful as the women in their 20s. Each age was unique. The life experiences of the 60s competitor radiantly outshined the innocent inexperience of the 20s contestant. While the flawless skin of the younger women was undeniably more beautiful than the well-earned life lines of the older ones, the tremendous self-confidence of the 50s woman outshined the 30s competitor. Both pre- and post-baby figures were beautiful. Overall, each decade showcased the beauty of that age.
For years, liberal feminists have jeered, mocked and denounced beauty pageants. Either out of ignorance or envy, they fail to understand that beauty pageants can be positive, uplifting life experiences. The thrill of competition, the indescribable camaraderie and gender affirmation for women who choose--and remember choice is a key for feminists--to participate in pageants is rarely recognized. The contestants were doctors, teachers, law firm administrators, business owners and full-time college students, professional women of power and pride; women who celebrated their beauty, their womanhood, their motherhood and their femininity. The word exploitation was laughed at.
Yet like extremists everywhere, anti-pageant feminists are as dogmatic and illogical toward beauty pageants as animal rights extremists are toward horse racing and dog showing or Gore-ites who vow to eliminate “tree homicide.” The winner of the 60s division was a 64-year-old school cafeteria worker who had entered and reentered the competition for seven years before her dream was finally realized. As she walked down the runway, I was struck by the beauty of beauty.
All during the pageant, I felt a keen sense of pride as I viewed these outstanding examples of female grace and dignity. The contestants were not mindless bimbos or aging Barbie dolls. They were accomplished, intelligent, self-assured, strong and, yes, beautiful women. Women who could and would stand as role models, examples of the greatness of female competition.
So what’s wrong with beauty pageants? Nothing! I have a flash for man-hating feminists: Beautiful women actually dress for other beautiful women. Being complimented by a man is merely a side benefit.
Pageants are not about exploiting women or pleasing men. The contestants are like boxers in a ring: They challenge their own, they compete against their own and they defeat their own. Yet always these competitors remember that tomorrow is another contest, another set of judges and last weekend’s loser could become this weekend’s winner.
As for the feminists in India, they seemed merely to be parroting the tired, old, outdated rhetoric of America’s 1960s feminists, who are threatened by beauty, who envy gentle femininity, who resent the fact that women who enter beauty pageants validate the wonderful difference between the sexes.
