What's Behind Pageant Stupidity

[IMPress Polly]

Many people have noticed the stupidity of the replies that beauty pageant winners so commonly offer to the social questions they get asked as part of these contests. This one from 2007 is particularly famous:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

This year's winners for stupidity went to like such as Miss Utah...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlgqWeuhJj4

...and Miss Alabama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vXrqHurTc

The social questions are thrown in there now because feminists complain that these pageants objectify women: that they value women only for their bodies, not for their brains. The social questions aim to appease feminists by showing that no, no, they actually value women as fully-rounded human beings. The sheer stupidity of the answers shows just how much time and effort is put into preparing for them...which in turn shows just how important brains are to winning these contests in reality: they're not. There's no getting around it: the essence of beauty pageants is objectification.

[Micketto]

Uh... I guess the fact that it's called a "beauty pageant" wasn't hint enough ?!

You can't judge "beauty" without objectifying it, ffs...

Could always turn it off if it bothers ya.

But then you may miss when someone doesn't answer the way the lunatic left wants them to answer and they attack and vilify them in the media for weeks. A la Perez Hilton... and every MSM channel in existence... simply because one contestant doesn't agree with homarriage.

So there's a bonus.

[Cigar]

I think what he's trying to say is; you can't judge a book by it's cover ...

... unless of course one's objectifying the cover before opening the book.

When does that ever happen? :laugh:

[Cigar]

Daddy's Little Girls are going Political

Miss USA Winners Get Naked for PETA’s Anti-Fur Campaign

What do you get when you combine pageant winners with animal-rights activists? Well, in this case, four beautiful women willing to take it off in the name of going fur-free.

Former Miss USA winners Susie Castillo, Shandi Finnessey, Shanna Moakler, and Alyssa Campanella are the latest celebs to strip down for PETA’s “Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. Not only are all four women animal lovers, but they’re trying to send a message to the pageant industry: Fur is not beautiful.

Castillo got the ball rolling by recruiting the others to the cause. “The reason I wanted to get involved with PETA is because I’ve been an animal lover all my life and the more I learned of the torture that animals go through in the name of fashion — I thinks it’s just so unnecessary. It’s unbelievable to me, actually. So I thought, if there’s something I could do to get my fellow pageant sisters together and for us to take a stand, united and to tell the pageant industry not to support the fur industry. I feel so blessed that they all agreed.”

In the video below, they all tell stories about being awarded fur as prizes. In fact, as part of her reign, Finnessey was asked to wear a fur coat and sign autographs for the Trappers Association, where members brought in photo albums of trapped animals.

“I’m looking at these pictures where animals are gnawing through their own paws in order to free themselves from traps and they’re trying these desperate measures just to fight for their lives. I was so disgusted that I would wear the skin of this living being on my body and consider myself beautiful. What would happen if that happened to a human being? We would be outraged. So what’s the difference?” she says.

http://www.ecorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/miss-usa-antifur1.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YGM9mDRd0Cs

[Mister D]

Isn't the essence of a beauty contest beauty?

[Chris]

Why not give them a written exam. Impromptu speaking is difficult for most people. We've all heard Bush/Obama bungle it without teleprompter.

[Mister D]

Why not give them a written exam. Impromptu speaking is difficult for most people. We've all heard Bush/Obama bungle it without teleprompter.

Doubtless there is a lot of pressure.

[Micketto]

Isn't the essence of a beauty contest beauty?

Apparently the essence has become the ability to complain about them being about.... "beauty".


Of course... it's only the ugly women that do the complaining.

[Mister D]

Apparently the essence has become the ability to complain about them being about.... "beauty".


Of course... it's only the ugly women that do the complaining.

Maybe they should ask some questions about particle physics at the next Mr. Universe contest.

[Cigar]

Why not give them a written exam. Impromptu speaking is difficult for most people. We've all heard Bush/Obama bungle it without teleprompter.

Yea ... but you have to admit, these were slow pitch softball questions.

I say the hell with the questions anyway, and let's see how well they Pole-dance. :grin:

Come-on Donald Trump ... is that all you can come up with, it's suppose to be entertainment.

[Chris]

Yea ... but you have to admit, these were slow pitch softball questions.

I say the hell with the questions anyway, and let's see how well they Pole-dance. :grin:

Come-on Donald Trump ... is that all you can come up with, it's suppose to be entertainment.

But here's the problem with the questions, they're political and it's just not pretty straddling a fence for the judges who are also political. That's difficult.

If it were me, given an economic policy question, I'd give a Hayekian answer but lose the votes of Keynesian and Socialist judges.

[Cigar]

But here's the problem with the questions, they're political and it's just not pretty straddling a fence for the judges who are also political. That's difficult.

If it were me, given an economic policy question, I'd give a Hayekian answer but lose the votes of Keynesian and Socialist judges.

Really Dude ... it's a Donald Trump Production.

[IMPress Polly]

Mister D wrote:
Isn't the essence of a beauty contest beauty?


Micketto wrote:
Uh... I guess the fact that it's called a "beauty pageant" wasn't hint enough ?!

You can't judge "beauty" without objectifying it, ffs...

That's exactly my point, guys! Congrats on somehow missing it. :laugh: My whole aim with this thread was to point out that these sorry attempts to convey them as anything else -- as more complex events that value women as such -- fall flat on their faces. For that very reason, I don't really believe in beauty pageants. Then again, I'm a 'feminazi' anyway, so who cares what I think? :wink:

(And no, though I consider myself a supporter of PETA and their essential message, they've employed a lot of tactics I don't particularly agree with. Using (damn near exclusively female) sex appeal to sell people on animal rights is one of them. I prefer the simple, emotional appeals and yes the guilt trips, which are well-deserved.)

[Mister D]

That's exactly my point, guys! Congrats on somehow missing it. :laugh: My whole aim with this thread was to point out that these sorry attempts to convey them as anything else -- as more complex events that value women as such -- fall flat on their faces. For that very reason, I don't really believe in beauty pageants. Then again, I'm a 'feminazi' anyway, so who cares what I think? :wink:

(And no, though I consider myself a supporter of PETA and their essential message, they've employed a lot of tactics I don't particularly agree with. Using (damn near exclusively female) sex appeal to sell people on animal rights is one of them. I prefer the simple, emotional appeals and yes the guilt trips, which are well-deserved.)

Nah femicommie is more like it. :grin:

But whose fault is that? Could feminists just be taking themselves a bit too seriously sometimes? Let beauty pageants be beauty pageants. People don;t need to make 'deep' sociological insights into everything.

[Micketto]

I don't really believe in beauty pageants.)

Well, I can vouch... they certainly exist.

[Peter1469]

I agree with Polly, it is amusing that the beauty contest part being dressed up to look like a talent contest.

[Polt]

Instead of asking these young women controversial political questions designed to measure their Political Correctness, how about just have them read a poem?

[Peter1469]

Instead of asking these young women controversial political questions designed to measure their Political Correctness, how about just have them read a poem?

That might be an idea/

The winner becomes a spokesman for the organization and does lots of public speaking / events. But they don't have to write their own speeches.

[Chris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nWtT8Phf3PU#!

:shocked:

[Micketto]

Instead of asking these young women controversial political questions designed to measure their Political Correctness, how about just have them read a poem?

I don't watch these silly things, but I can see the entertainment value in asking them to actually form a complete, coherent thought.

They enter these things because they think they're hot.... why not put some risk into it for them, by asking them to think.

Maybe they would take a second thought and ask themselves... "am I really that hot?"


Nene Leakes ? A judge ?

And wtf are "choodren", Nene ?

Why don't they put Nene up on stage and have her answer the same question... or have her try to properly pronounce an 8 letter word ; )

[Adelaide]

I actually watched the show and was not impressed. I sort of thought to myself, "These are university educated women?" Even if I think answering a question they didn't prepare for would be difficult, they should all be aware of the issues that were brought up.

[IMPress Polly]

*pats Chris on the head*

Yes Chris, but patriarchy is more than what women who work the exact same jobs as men for the exact same number of hours per week earn relative to their male counterparts: it's also what job options are open to women versus men, what the difference in pay THERE is, whether women (who compose most of society's parents) have an equal opportunity to work full-time, and so on and so on. THOSE are the main things that explain the 23% income gap between men and women in today's America. The Paycheck Fairness Act and a national child care system (and pre-K standardization) would help resolve many of these ongoing disparities. There ARE things we can actively do to improve the degree of gender equality that's to be found in our society.

[Chris]

*pats Chris on the head*

Yes Chris, but patriarchy is more than what women who work the exact same jobs as men for the exact same number of hours per week earn relative to their male counterparts: it's also what job options are open to women versus men, what the difference in pay THERE is, whether women (who compose most of society's parents) have an equal opportunity to work full-time, and so on and so on. THOSE are the main things that explain the 23% income gap between men and women in today's America. The Paycheck Fairness Act and a national child care system (and pre-K standardization) would help resolve many of these ongoing disparities. There ARE things we can actively do to improve the degree of gender equality that's to be found in our society.

If you want to be free to be women why do you seek to be like men?

[IMPress Polly]

I don't believe in gender roles and consider the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity that are bound up with those roles to be mostly out of date. More important is the concept of humanity: what we have in common, which is just about everything when it comes down to natural traits.

[Chris]

I don't believe in gender roles and consider the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity that are bound up with those roles to be mostly out of date. More important is the concept of humanity: what we have in common, which is just about everything when it comes down to natural traits.

Sort of begs the question. It seems to me the end result is women acting like men, taking on men's roles, making the same money as men, etc.

[Adelaide]

Sort of begs the question. It seems to me the end result is women acting like men, taking on men's roles, making the same money as men, etc.

You don't think we should get equal pay to men?

Anyways, it's not about acting like men. Women are women, but that doesn't mean we should not be able to have the same things and have access to the same opportunities. We also shouldn't be confined to little boxes of what is acceptable for women. We shouldn't have to dress a certain way, act a certain way, do specific things. And that goes for men, as well. If men want to stay home and take care of the kids or enter a field like nursing? More power to them. And if women want to not have children at all and go into an industry currently dominated by males, then more power to them, too. If anyone wants to take on traditional roles, again, more power to them. But the choice has to be available, and it should be available without judgement.

[Chris]

Yes, I don't think women should GET equal pay.

But I agree a woman should be able to pursue that and even more.

There's a difference.

[Adelaide]

Yes, I don't think women should GET equal pay.

But I agree a woman should be able to pursue that and even more.

There's a difference.

I didn't mean in terms of handouts. My previous and numerous postings on the subject makes it clear that I don't support that as it's not equality.

[Ravi]

Yes, I don't think women should GET equal pay.

But I agree a woman should be able to pursue that and even more.

There's a difference.
Twisted backpedal. You might want to edit it again.

[jillian]

Yes, I don't think women should GET equal pay.

But I agree a woman should be able to pursue that and even more.

There's a difference.

really? women shouldn't be paid the same for the same work as a man?

[Chris]

I didn't mean in terms of handouts. My previous and numerous postings on the subject makes it clear that I don't support that as it's not equality.

I was disagreeing with your first statement but agree pretty much with the next paragraph.

[Chris]

really? women shouldn't be paid the same for the same work as a man?

No.

But a woman should be able to pursue that and more.

[Chris]

You don't think we should get equal pay to men?

Anyways, it's not about acting like men. Women are women, but that doesn't mean we should not be able to have the same things and have access to the same opportunities. We also shouldn't be confined to little boxes of what is acceptable for women. We shouldn't have to dress a certain way, act a certain way, do specific things. And that goes for men, as well. If men want to stay home and take care of the kids or enter a field like nursing? More power to them. And if women want to not have children at all and go into an industry currently dominated by males, then more power to them, too. If anyone wants to take on traditional roles, again, more power to them. But the choice has to be available, and it should be available without judgement.

Here, jillian. I disagree with the first paragraph but agree with the second.

[IMPress Polly]

Chris wrote:
Sort of begs the question. It seems to me the end result is women acting like men, taking on men's roles, making the same money as men, etc.

This should prove revealing: to what precisely are you referring when you say "men's roles"? What is the man's natural role in life? What is the woman's natural place? Prescribe me my life duty.

(Your post "sort of begs the question".)

[zelmo1234]

This should prove revealing: to what precisely are you referring when you say "men's roles"? What is the man's natural role in life? What is the woman's natural place? Prescribe me my life duty.

(Your post "sort of begs the question".)

I thik that you have to stay out of the mens bathroom? anything else is pretty much up to you?

[Chris]

This should prove revealing: to what precisely are you referring when you say "men's roles"? What is the man's natural role in life? What is the woman's natural place? Prescribe me my life duty.

(Your post "sort of begs the question".)

Simple example, traditionally the man went to the office or factory to work and the woman stayed home. Those were traditional roles. Women's lib brought what, the freedom to do something new? No, to take on those traditional roles.

Your seeming to want to pin on me an attitude I don't think women should do that, work in offices and factories, misses the point I'm trying to make that women have done nothing with their freedom but become like men.

Perhaps you think I beg the question because I just don't accept your agenda and fit your view of men as oppressor of oppressed women.

Freedom is not equality of outcomes (egalitarianism), it's equality before the law to pursue your own happiness.

[Chris]

I thik that you have to stay out of the mens bathroom? anything else is pretty much up to you?

I was at a hospital other day and all the restrooms were unisex.

[zelmo1234]

I was at a hospital other day and all the restrooms were unisex.

See my drean is shattered already? :)

[Chris]

See my drean is shattered already? :)

Sorry to BREAK the news to you. http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/158/pat9xu.gif