Erin O'Flaherty is the first openly gay contestant in the pageant's history, but the progress hasn't come easily

No more swimsuits, and no judging on looks. But it's still women competing and being judged by strangers

Once only the stuff of fiction, this now-real extravaganza is the Kingdom of heat, pain and blue cheese

Filmmaker Nicole Rittenmeyer on challenges of investigating beauty pageants and why "it's not a bunch of bimbos"

Salon's TV picks for Weekend, March 2-4, 2001

Much has been made of Trump's creepy attitudes toward women, but he's not the only one with a Miss Universe problem

As other pageants have tried to increase diversity and stay relevant, Mrs. America is the worst of them all

The competition changes the rules -- and makes history

Their sordid histories are somewhat similar — but only Republicans are sticking with their man, no matter what

The Miss America pageant has become a must-see hate watch for elitists

Imagine a male pageant in which, say, Oprah Winfrey "hosted" 80 young men in Speedos. You can't, can you?

Steve Carell runs off with our hearts in this sweet-tempered dysfunctional-family road movie.

The inside story of how a Harvard law student beat out her more bodacious sisters for the Miss America crown.

Questions about race and politics seem designed to shame and embarrass contestants and then go viral

It started as cheesecake, detoured into diversity, and now resembles the GOP convention. Who says the Miss America Pageant doesn't reflect America?