SALON

Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 3:51 PM UTC

A new and improved Miss America? Hardly

Ball gowns, baton twirling, satin sashes: America's favorite pageant goes retro.

By

Topics: Broadsheet, Love and Sex,

Miss America’s tiara has grown pretty tarnished over the past few decades. The New York Times reports this morning that since the peak of its popularity in the 1960s, the 85-year-old pageant has fallen sharply in public opinion, despite recent efforts to revamp the program with up-to-the-minute additions like a current events quiz show competition, a casual-wear competition and a “head to head talent contest, [designed] to channel ‘American Idol.’”

But lest we declare the pancake-makeup-promoting, swimsuit-and-sash-celebrating extravaganza dead, it seems the old gal still has one more makeover left in her. According to the Times, this year the Miss America Organization has decided to ditch the more intellectual, esteem-building elements of the competition that had slowly been added since 1968, when feminist groups, including New York NOW, first began protesting the event.

The Miss America Organization, in conjunction with Country Music Television (the competition’s new cable home), says the changes are part of a plan to give viewers “a more genteel, glamorous competition … emphasizing evening wear, with sashes bearing state names.” According to the Times, “also returning in January — for the first time since 1974 — will be Miss Congeniality, an honor bestowed on one of the 52 contestants (representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands) by her peers.”

“We want to get the pageant back to the one we most remember from the collective childhood of everyone involved,” Brian Philips, executive vice president and general manager of CMT, tells the Times. “Our viewers, Americans, harbor some really intense and deep feelings about the idea of Miss America. We’ve got to get it right. We’ve got to make it matter.”

Is this Broadsheetress the only one who finds all this retro-woman worship freaking creepy? So maybe the pageant’s civics lesson quizzes were cheesy, and still conducted with starched smiles, but at least they represented a nod to the notion that women could compete on a level deeper than debutante decorum. The casual-wear competition might have, as the Times puts it, looked like a beauty queen’s “bad idea of casual Friday,” but at least it took some time away from the insufferable swimsuit parade. Miss America apologists have long reminded critics that the organization has the longest-running and most generous scholarship program for women in the United States and hailed it as the means by which hundreds of capable young students have been able to attend college debt-free. But what good is that when the role models these young women are asked to emulate are stuck in some 1950s time warp?

Sarah Karnasiewicz

Sarah Karnasiewicz is a freelance writer and photographer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Until recently, she was senior editor at Saveur magazine; prior to that she was deputy Life editor at Salon. She has contributed to the New York Times, the New York Observer and Rolling Stone, among other publications. For more of her work, visit thefastertimes.com/streetfood and Signs and Wonders. More Sarah Karnasiewicz.

Next Article

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

More Related Stories

Comments

 9 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Check out the full Bank of America whistleblower details (affidavits) "Read former staff describe getting Target gift cards as a prize for foreclosing on people, and other awful schemes"
362 points363 points | 16 comments
vote
The full Bank of America whistleblower details (affidavits)
321 points322 points | 7 comments
vote
Study: Young people are more liberal than they think they are.
60 points61 points | 22 comments
vote
How cash secretly rules surveillance policy: Today's congressional hearing was a joke. The reason: Firms like Booz Allen bankroll and own Congress. Here's how
40 points41 points | 6 comments
vote
The internal war between House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings blew up again Tuesday, when Cummings released the full transcript of a five-hour interview with the conservative Republican IRS screening manager.
36 points37 points | 6 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves": Growing up primate

Recommendations