A beauty contest, or beauty pageant, is a competition between people, based largely, though not always entirely, on the beauty of their physical appearance. Almost invariably, competitions for men and women are separate events, and those for men are not referred to as beauty contests except derogatorily. Those for women are more common; for an example of a male beauty contest, see Mr. Universe. There are also beauty contests for children; they are controversial, in particular if the term "sexy" is used and/or the children are dressed in no more than a swimsuit. [1]
The modern beauty pageant can trace its origin to the Miss America pageant, first held in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1921, under the title "Inter-City Beauty" contest. The following year, the title was renamed as Miss America. Other contests include the yearly Miss World competition (founded by Eric Morley in 1951) and Miss Universe (founded in 1952), which are the two largest and most famous international beauty contests. Women from around the world participate each year in the competitions for these titles. The organisers of the major beauty contests represent their contests as being events of world importance. Many other people consider beauty contests to be titillating entertainment events of no great importance.
Many feminists regard beauty contests for women as degrading to females in general, as well as to the women who compete in them. A common comparison made by feminists is that beauty contests are like a cattle market for women. They have particularly objected to swimsuit rounds in competitions, where the contestants parade dressed only in swimsuits and high heeled shoes. Partly because of this, beauty contests have declined in popularity since their peak in the 1960s. These criticisms were presented in high-profile complaints against the Miss America contest in the late 1960s.
The contests are highly controversial and regularly attract demonstrators. An extreme example is the 2002 Miss World contest, which was held in Nigeria, the country of the 2001 winner, until mass riots which killed 200 and a fatwa against a female journalist caused the organizers to move it to London.
Beauty contests for women often have rules regarding the sexual "purity" of the contestants: for example, they must not be married, must not become pregnant, must agree to remain celibate during their "reign", and must agree to refrain from other acts that the contest organizers regard as "moral turpitude". Breaking any of those rules disqualifies the contestant, and such disqualifications occur with some frequency: resignations have been forced by the threat to release extant nude photographs of contestants.
Beauty pageants are generally multi-tiered, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. The worldwide pageants thus require hundreds or thousands of local competitions.
See also:
Beauty contests and politics
Beauty contests and "sexual purity"
Beauty contests and race
Sonia Rolland was the first black Miss France in 2000.Beauty contests, body shape and anthropology
Selecting a Beauty Queen
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