Beyond the 4 Points of the Crown

Being a former pageant girl, and this being the night of Miss America, I figured it was only fitting to expose just how much pageant girls are single storied.  In my own personal experience whenever I would tell someone that I was a runner up to Miss Utah and that I did pageants, my blonde hair didn't help my case much, I was instantly single storied to a girl who couldn't think for herself and only cared about how her body looked in a bikini.  Much of the media and movies seems to portray pageant girls in this same limelight.  One of my favorite movies growing up was "Miss Congeniality" starring Sandra Bullock.  At the beginning of this movie the first impression that Sandra Bullock gives is that she is never going to be a beauty queen because all they care about is, "their hair, spray tans, and fake boobs."  The other main stereotype that we see from this movie is that beauty queens are dumb.  Miss Rhode Island as well as Miss California are often shown in the movie messing up their on stage questions, not being able to communicate socially to the outside world, and not knowing much more than how to put make up on their face.  We can see through multiple memes, youtube videos, and blog posts, that everyone seems to identify more with beauty queens as dumb blondes who don't know much about society and the world, then girls who live normal lives who can make a difference.

Would have as many people watch Miss Congeniality if the girls were portrayed as educated women that are nurses, college students,  and teachers? I have to think not for the same reason hundreds of "memes" are made about girls butchering their onstage questions when this happens to 1 out of 1,000 girls.  It is much easier to look at a stereotype then to realize that these women really can make a difference.  This is very limiting for the Miss America Organization.  Do people really know that this organization gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to young women? Do people really know the benefits? This perception of beauty queens aren't worth your time and are dumb leads girls to believe that if they like those things, then are encompassing that same perception.   Before I competed in the Miss America organization I had the exact same single story.  I had no idea about the 4 points of the crown, style, service scholarship, and success.  I had no idea the amount of service I would do for my community.  I had no idea the difference I could make in a 13 year olds life by holding after school workshops for goal setting and achieving self confidence. However, how could you when the emphasis is not about that? When you see this picture of me competing for the crown of Miss Utah below, what do you suspect of me? 

It took lots of searching, but after scrolling through negative articles and posts, I found the most recent positive media article highlighting a different side of beauty queens that we don't always see.  In the Miss America competition taken place last night, top 10 finalist Miss Colorado traded in her talent of dance and singing to giving a monologue on the Miss America stage in non-dolled up scrubs and plain white tennis shoes.  This article published in Today.com highlights her academic accomplishments and the difference she is making.  It never mentioned any of the stereotypes that beauty queens have, however it highlighted the exact opposite.  Our current Miss Utah 2015 Krissia Beatty had a story written about her as well telling her story of how she was diagnosed with Spine Abifida and how she was told she could never walk.  The story goes to show the she overcame this was a high school swimmer and now is competing at Miss America.  This is telling a story of accomplishment, setting and achieving goals, and BECOMING a beauty queen, not being stereotyped as a beauty queen.  

In conclusion, we can see that beauty queens are typically stereotyped as dumb, clueless, and care about nothing other than their hair and clothes.  Thousands of memes are made about girls looking dumb, it seems the funniest parts of the Miss Congeniality movie are when the girls respond blankly. The problem we see from this single story is that this story is associated with all girls that ever compete in a beauty pageant or see a girl wearing a crown. Our society doesn't glorify nearly as much the accomplishment of the girls and getting to know them behind the make-up and the crown.  You have to search the internet much harder for the positive articles than the Youtube videos, memes, and articles, made about 'dumb' beauty queens.  What could be a positive role model and effect in our society is often played off in a negative limelight in the media.