Here's something I hadn't encountered before, possibly because I think beauty pageants are a social disease. Anyway, the backstory: A friend got back from Palm Springs and handed me a copy of Robert Julian's Postcards From Palm Springs, a self-published memoir by a journalist and sometimes actor who abandoned San Francisco for the glamorous life in the desert. Julian recounts, among other things, his interview with Don Spradlin, who organizes the Mr. Gay competition—formerly known as Mr. Gay Universe, until Donald Trump objected. And then I encountered this curious paragraph: According to the official website for Donald Trump's Miss Universe Pageant, "These women are savvy, goal-oriented, and aware. The delegates who become part of the Miss Universe Organization display these characteristics in their everyday lives, both as individuals who participate in the competitions to advance their careers, personal and humanitarian goals, and as women who seek to improve the lives of others." Fortunately for television viewers, Miss Universe contestants are not required to perform a talent competition, unlike the dreadful Miss America Pageant which has become a de facto arm of the religious right and fallen on hard times. (Julian, 179) That would be the more elegant statement of the situation, apparently. Still, a quick Google check of "miss america christian right" turns up a couple of scary articles. Nathan Black reported in 2007 for the Christian Post that the "New Miss America Relies on Christian Faith"— In the midst of the busy schedule she is anticipating, Nelson said, "sometimes I am going to doubt myself, but I have to realize that God would not have put me in this position if He did not know that I could handle it." As Miss America, Nelson believes she is representing "a strong role model," which is what society needs. And she hopes her Christian faith will show through her actions and the choices she makes. —and Tom Perrotta wrote for Slate last year about "The Sexy Puritan", which discusses none other than Alaska Governor, former GOP vice-presidential candidate, and general laughingstock Sarah Palin: I didn't think too much about Sexy Puritans as a type until I began looking into the abstinence-only sex-education movement while researching my novel, The Abstinence Teacher. I expected to encounter a lot of stern James Dobson-style scolds warning teenagers about the dangers of premarital sex—and there were a few of those—but what I found over and over again were thoughtful, attractive, downright sexy young women talking about their personal decision to remain pure until marriage. Erika Harold, Miss America of 2003 (the right sure loves beauty queens), is probably the best-known to the wider public, but no abstinence rally is complete without the testimony of a very pretty virgin in her early- to mid-20s. Yet that's not the whole story. Seemingly contrary to Julian's assertion is a strange article posted at Morons.org: When Erika Harold won the Miss Illinois pageant, she had been advocating her platform of abstinence. However, the Miss Illinois pageant, like many other state level pageants, had a specific platform it wanted to see addressed at the national level: youth violence. So, when Harold won, she signed a contract saying that her platform, were she to become Miss America, would be that of youth violence. When she was interviewed at the Miss America pageant, Harold spoke about youth violence, not saying a word about her former platform - just as the other girls did. The problem came after she was crowned the new Miss America. When she's gone to schools and made public appearances, guess what her speeches have been about? Not youth violence, as she had promised pageant organizers. No, she broke her contract and went back to her original platform of abstinence. Those who organized both the Miss Illinois and Miss America pageants are stunned and dismayed by this. Why would the Miss America organizers (as an alleged "de facto arm of the Christian right") be dismayed that their winner was pushing abstinence? It's just that not everything adds up. To the other, call it a lesson learned; I shouldn't have cared, shouldn't have looked it up. Heaven knows, the less I care about beauty pageants, the better off I am. But, still, to what degree is the Christian right invested in the meat market known as the Miss America pageant, or any other beauty contests for that matter? ____________________ Notes: Julian, Robert. Postcards From Palm Springs. Raleigh: Lulu, 2007. Black, Nathan. "New Miss America Relies on Christian Faith". Christian Post. February 20, 2007. http://www.christianpost.com/Entert...erica-relies-on-christian-faith-20/index.html Perrotta, Tom. "The Sexy Puritan". Slate. September 26, 2008. http://www.slate.com/id/2200814/ Westlake, Aurelia. "Miss America Expects to be Able to Break Her Contract". Morons.org. November 17, 2002. http://beta.morons.org/tally-ho/article/read/2490/
Shine like the sun Time to change your bulb, John. Seriously, lighten up, dude. I mean, God made her a beauty queen? Sure, it's not polite to laugh at the mentally ill, but in the case of America's religious, how, exactly, do we go about treating the malady? "God would not have put me in this position if He did not know that I could handle it." (Lauren Nelson) You know, if Harriet Tubman had said that, I would understand. But she's talking about being Miss America.
i just dont see what the issue is. God or some belief is acknowledged by the overwhelming majority of the worlds population.
Not much for an issue at this point There isn't much for an issue. If I wanted to make an issue of it, I wouldn't have thrown it in Free Thoughts. Like I said: This is something I hadn't encountered before. I've never heard the assertion that the Miss America Pageant is "a de facto arm of the religious right". And while the stupidity of, say, Miss America Lauren Nelson—apparently God made her Miss America—is, indeed, scary on a certain level, I can't find anything that definitively validates the assertion. Hence the question at the end of the topic post: To what degree is the Christian right invested in the meat market known as the Miss America pageant, or any other beauty contests for that matter? And that's pretty much the issue. The answer is informative; any issues of principle or politics come later.
