My Thoughts on Miss America 2014: The Return to Atlantic City and Other Pageant Controversies

It's been a little over two weeks since Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America 2014. After an initial media burst, interest has faded a bit-- though she is still in the public eye more than I might have expected. Also, thanks to the French ban on child beauty pageants, a proposed ban in Quebec, and serious protests at Miss World, beauty pageants have remained very much in the public conversation. The 2014 Miss America Pageant got a lot of attention this year because of the return to Atlantic City and a September pageant date. A few contestants, like Miss Kansas, got the lions share of pre-pageant media attention (thanks to her tattoos, military background, and archery talent-- though no one but me seemed fascinated by her shade of bleached blonde hair that basically blended with her skin tone...). Miss New York, Nina Davuluri, got some negative press attention after a NY Post article quoted her as saying that Miss America 2013 (also from New York) was "[expletive] fat." Here are more details on that, and my thoughts on the controversy, published on Yahoo! Shine.

Because of the return to AC, Miss America even got attention from the paper of record's editorial page. I was one of six participants in a New York Times Room for Debate forum on whether Miss America is bad for women. You can read my piece (and the others) by clicking here. Was also a total bucket list moment when mine was one of three excerpted in Sunday's Review section!

Most of the comments-- both positive and negative-- were extremely thoughtful. While I can't respond to all of them, I did want to point out two facts as they directly relate to what I wrote and to several commenters. The first is that in addition to scholarship money Miss America actually earns a salary, which is six figures. Each state queen also earns appearance fees. If a winner never goes back to school (or has no student loans) she never sees that scholarship money, but she did in fact earn a nice chunk of pocket change for her year. Second, many women who never win a state title still earn a significant amount of scholarship money. For instance, when I judged Miss NJ, one woman who didn't even make Top 10 at the pageant still earned several thousand dollars in scholarships (note, NOT cash prize) thanks to her service and academic performance. At each local even swimsuit and talent winners earn scholarships that start at $100, or even $50, but the rewards add up each year.

Due to the NYT article I also had the pleasure of appearing on Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC the day of the Pageant, along with a former Miss America and some critics. Here I am sitting next to Soledad O'Brien (let's just say that in general it was a bucket list Sunday!):

You can watch the clip by clicking here, or watching below, and if you do you will see I tried to give historical and social context to where Miss America is today.

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In the second segment I didn't get a chance to give my point of view about young girls competing, which is why Prof. Harris-Perry asked me to write this follow-up piece on why I never competed as the daughter of a former Miss America.

(Lest you think I am uncritical of Miss America as well, think again. For instance, check out this piece I wrote that ran at The Forward about why it's hypocritical of Miss America to say it celebrates diversity when it was held during the High Holy Days for Jews, eliminating a segment of the population from competing.)

After leaving the MSNBC studios I hustled back to Atlantic City to see the live event. Here I am in front of the stage in Boardwalk Hall before the televised portion began:

Being in the audience is a bit like being in the audience at the Super Bowl (not that I've ever done that!); you would likely have a better view at home, but the atmosphere is great fun. In the live audience you don't get to see many of the "video packages" seen at home-- though we did get to see the taped opening number and hear the contestants' state intros (I admit I totally laughed out loud when Miss Vermont announced she was lactose intolerant).

It's also fun during commercial breaks, with people like Dena Rizzo keeping the audience entertained and happy. This also explains why I didn't make time to Tweet or anything-- it's all part of the show.

While I obviously missed the 20/20 special (though I watched it the next day), I knew all about Miss Florida's injury. I have to say that during her talent the entire audience was behind her and it was a special uplifting moment when she twirled so well (and interesting how people reacted by booing after the emcee cut off her [bad] on-stage answer). Plus, who can't get behind a BEDAZZLED knee brace?!

Even during the live pageant I just hated seeing the eliminated contestants forced to sit on stage and watch, I DETESTED the way talent was handled as usual (not letting contestants know beforehand so they can be properly prepared to do their best on national TV), and I disliked the constant talk about food and binging after the pageant.

Overall it was a strong Top 5 and could have gone several different ways, but when Miss New York was crowned I immediately thought: 1) Third time ever for back-to-back state winners, and 2) First ever Indian-American winner, how cool. It wasn't until the next day that I heard about the horribly racist online reaction, something that didn't even enter my mind when I headed off to visitation. But it did give rise to good articles (like this one) and an interesting way to welcome Vanessa Williams (also Miss Syracuse, New York, and America) back into the Miss America fold.

Miss America also got good ratings, its best in years, which likely helps explain the more sustained media attention. Also, the fact that beauty pageants have remained part of the media conversation every week since. The week after, France made headlines after passing a bill that included a ban for all pageants offered to girls under age 16 (this has been talked about for the past year, as I wrote about previously). For my thoughts on why this would never happen in the US, read my comments in USA Today and see a bit of my thoughts on why regulation is important at Al-Jazeera English. This legislation in French has led to discussion, but no action in Quebec (for my thoughts in French, click here) and Ireland.

One place where pageants are held, but not without controversy is Bali (and other Muslim countries)-- the site of the Miss World competition this year. After death threats, etc., the exact location was moved and a winner was chosen, and this controversy kept pageants in the news LAST week. On why pageants are inherently political, see my thoughts in this TODAY Style piece on how pageants have in fact always been political, and will remain so particularly in other parts of the world.

Who knows what pageant controversy next week will bring! Any guesses?!

Are Beauty Pageants about an Ideal or Diversity?: Thoughts on three recent pageant programs

I'm pretty sure I've seen almost every documentary, movie, or TV series about beauty pageants (well, at least those that appear in the English language). Want evidence? Click here. In the past week I've seen three new documentaries/TV specials that raise some interesting questions about whether beauty pageants are about an ideal ("There she is, your ideal...") or if they might actually be about diversity.

1) Miss You Can Do It-  Without a doubt one of the best documentaries I have seen in recent memory, particularly about children's activities (it's up there with Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom for me right now!). I would love this even if it wasn't about pageants, and full disclosure I cried during almost all of its 74 minutes. The subject is an annual pageant held in Illinois started by Abbey Curran, who was Miss Iowa USA 2008. Curran also happens to have cerebral palsy and she was the first woman with a disability to compete in the Miss USA system (note that Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995, was the first winner with a disability [hearing loss] and this year Miss Iowa America 2013 Nichole Kelly is missing part of her left arm-- so the Miss America Program is no stranger to championing contestants with disabilities). Curran believed she needed to share her gifts and dreams with others, which led her to start the Miss You Can Do It Pageant ten years ago. When the pageant is held later this month, fifty young girls will compete for the title-- but everyone will leave with a prize. As the documentary shows, every girl gets her hair and make-up done and gets the chance to feel special for the whole weekend, and while on stage. To see the transformation among these young people, and the positive impact it has on their families, is truly something. I can imagine this program turning into something like the Special Olympics, which focuses on sports for those with special needs. Thumbs up to both Miss You Can Do Its-- the pageant and the documentary about it!

2) There She Is- This short documentary (less than 20 minutes and viewable in its entirety via the link provided) is another interesting contribution to pageant documentaries and makes you think about how we define beauty-- particularly relevant this week in light of the Dustin Hoffman Tootsie clip that's been making its way around the Internet. It focuses on two women competing in a plus-sized beauty pageant. In this case I actually wanted to know more about both women and the pageants themselves (Is there a minimum size or weight requirement? Does anyone try to get around this? Does it help to be bigger or smaller? What are the age limits for these events? How many of these women did more traditional pageants before?). I loved that the filmmakers followed up a year later, but I still had questions (Were the two women still friends? Do they recommend that other women like them do pageants? Do they think there should be plus-sized pageants for kids?). The short film raises more questions that it answers-- particularly when one of the women talks about never going to the grocery store in sweats because she doesn't want strangers to think she's a slob-- but it's a good start.

3) Crown Chasers- Sadly, this show is getting the most press, even though it's the least worthwhile contribution here. It's on TLC and the show is basically a grown up version of Toddlers & Tiaras. Five women are featured (ranging in age from 30 to 52) as they compete in a Mrs. beauty pageant in Colorado. The women, predictably, behave poorly, fighting and swearing. One woman can barely go three sentences without breaking down into tears about menopause. They're catty and not very fun, but this special was clearly a test run for a possible future series. I hope it doesn't happen (note that I participated in a HuffPost Live segment with two of the crown chasers, around 14:45, and the women seem far more likeable in this format). While they emphasize that pageants give them a chance to retain some non-mom identities, as a new mom I know there are better ways than this to do so...

So between pageants for those with disabilities, those who are overweight, and those who are older, it seems as if pageantry isn't just about a blonde, thin ideal. Actually this shouldn't be tremendously surprising given that prisons often hold pageants for inmates and there has even been a Miss Holocaust pageant recently. And, let's face it, the child beauty pageant contestant who is currently most well-known is Alana Thompson of Honey Boo Boo fame, and she doesn't exactly conform to the norm of what a child beauty pageant contestant looks like either...

Increasingly we will see more diverse types of contestants, and contests. Case in point: This week in South Carolina Analouisa Valencia is one of 103(!) women vying for the title of Miss South Carolina, and ultimately Miss America 2014. Valencia stands out for two reasons: 1) She is openly gay, and 2) She is bilingual. Miss America has never had a national or state winner who was either.

So as the "ideal" changes, so do those who aspire for recognition in small and larger ways. I for one think this is a good thing!

Measuring Ambition in Afterschool Activities

Despite the arrival of summer (which has been way too hot thus far in Boston for my taste!), I've been writing, thinking, and talking about children's afterschool activities more than ever. This is mainly related to the release of Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture, set for September 1, but also because of the release of a new paper published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. The paper, "Pediatric Sports Injuries: An Age Comparison of Children Versus Adolescents," is the first paper out of my post-doctoral fellowship on youth sports injuries-- an interest that was a natural outgrowth of my research for Playing to Win as I saw children injured through their participation in soccer and dance. This paper, completed in conjunction with sociologist/demographer/friend Rebecca Casciano and doctors at Boston Children's Hospital (where the data are from), shows that younger children are more likely to suffer acute injuries from participation in organized sports, while older children are more likely to sustain overuse injuries. Whatever the age, sport, or type of injury, a surprising number of children require surgery to correct their injuries (40%).

This work shows one of the potential pitfalls of participation in competitive activities, but my latest entry at Psychology Today, "Measuring Ambition in Today's Youth," highlights a potential benefit: demonstrating ambition in youth. The piece talks about why it's important to measure and show ambition, and links this to some recent beauty pageant experiences I have had as well.

The case of Missy Franklin also highlights benefits (college scholarships, world travel, international acclaim, likely millions in endorsements some day) to competitive children's sports. This great article in the Youth Sports edition of ESPN The Magazine (here on the web with ESPNw) includes a quote from yours truly and a plug for Playing to Win. Very exciting!

Also very exciting was that Playing to Win was included in some amazing company on this reading list about increased consumption among middle class families in the US. I figure this may be the only time I'm mentioned on the same list as Adam Smith, so I better enjoy it! Maybe you'll find some summer reading here to tide you over until my book is released... :)

Happy 4th!

Pageants, Pageants, Pageants! From Miss America to Miss USA to Mini Miss

A lot has been going on in the pageantry world recently and I've been writing and talking away!  All the biggies have gotten some press coverage. 1) Child pageants- Toddlers & Tiaras returned earlier this month and so far the biggest story to come out has been about Tinker Tea (a sick concoction of pixie sticks, Mountain Dew, and sweet tea). It turns green, hence it's name. Anyway, more evidence that the "reality" show has become a launching pad for all sorts of infamy and opportunities to make money as this mom attempts to sell her sad brew to others.

2) Miss USA- Of course, Miss Utah's flubbed answer stole the show. In case you missed it:

It's clear that her mind went blank-- you can see it happen-- and she did well answering a question a few minutes before. I don't think she's a rocket scientist, but her nerves clearly took over. To me it honestly wasn't as bad as Miss South Carolina Teen's answer from 2007, where the girl seemed to project the confidence that she was making sense. In any case, while I'm sure both were embarrassed, they did receive almost/more press than the winner, so...

Far more worrisome to me was how thin many of the contestants appeared; not just in swimsuit but also fully clothed. Their toothpick arms came up in a discussion I participated in on HuffPost live about "Making Over the Pageant Industry." I was the only non-pageant contestant on the panel, which included two former Miss Americas, one former Miss USA, one former MAO state queen, and one former MAO local winner.

3) Miss America- Speaking of Miss America, thankfully, more accomplishments than mistakes have been in the news thanks to Ericka Harold, Miss America 2003. Harold, who I spoke with last summer when I was writing a series of articles on beauty queen politicians, is enormously impressive. I went on record saying this recently in The Washington Post (this piece also discusses Heather French Henry, who is considering a run and who was on the HuffPost Live panel with me as well); sidenote, I simply love being described as a "pageant scholar" and I may add this to my CV! It's very disheartening to hear that Harold is being racially and sexually derided-- even by members of her own party. She, and all candidates, deserve better.

And I can speak from experience that not all pageant contestants blank on TV and they often do have important things to say and contribute to the world. I spent part of last week and the weekend judging Miss New Jersey in Ocean City, NJ. Cara McCollum, a rising senior at Princeton, was crowned and she will represent the state as the Pageant returns to its birthplace, Atlantic City, after seven years away. There will be a lot of attention on Miss New Jersey this year, but I'm confident Cara is up to the challenge. For more on her, and my thoughts, check out this blog entry I wrote for PAW (Princeton Alumni Weekly).

The High Holy Week of Pageantry: Miss America 2013, No There She Is

If you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook you know that I was scratching my head when Mallory Hagan was announced the winner of the 2013 Miss America Pageant. I felt that I knew so little about her that after she was crowned I actually had to look up her platform in the program book (turns out it is about preventing childhood abuse).

[By the way, doesn't Alli Rogers look like Kristen Haguland here?!]

Hagan was not on my list of frontrunners, nor on that of most pageant aficionados (and Vegas odds makers didn't predict that she would do well either). Overall though I did pretty well in predicting who would go deep-- including SC (who I didn't think would win, but who I thought would go far-- suspicions confirmed by her performance on stage Saturday night), OK, MD, and TX.

I'm guessing this was a case of the Pageant being won in the interview room, as NY placed high after swimsuit and evening gown, as revealed by one of the co-hosts; while she wasn't a standout to me, she obviously was to the judges. Based on the 20/20 Pageant Confidential special that aired before the live show, it appears that the MAO and producers had favorites as well... And Miss NY was one of them.  All of the Top 3 (NY, SC, and WY) were featured in the news special. It's worth mentioning that the most media-hyped contestants-- Miss DC Allyn Rose (breast cancer story) and Miss MT Alexis Wineman (autism) didn't do well. Wineman was voted in as America's Choice, but the judges quickly dismissed her, and Rose didn't even make the Top 16. Previously backstory-hyped contestants like Kayla Martell (alopecia), Bree Boyce (weight loss), and Heather Whitestone (deaf) went much further or even won in previous years.

While I really enjoyed the Pageant overall and thought it was a strong group of interesting contestants (and others, even non-pageant fans, obviously agree), I was confused by the winner. The talent competition basically summed up my feelings on this year's event- some were outstanding (like OK) and others were cringeworthy (I'm looking at you IN). The extremes were there, along with some enjoyment (the bad was so bad it was good).

I'm not surprised that among the 13,000 girls the Miss America Program attracted in the past year that many of them were smart, talented, and interesting. I think the pendulum is swinging back in support of Miss America due to the synergy between glitz and entertainment and scholarship money. I don't think this is a Honey Boo Boo effect, but I do feel that there is a greater acceptance of women being smart, educated, fit, talented, and beautiful and Miss America is framing itself for that market.

I wrote about some of those women earlier this year for Slate and The Hill in three pieces on former Miss America contestants running for political office. The first of these pieces appeared in June and the other two in October and November. I was happy for the program and the women featured that Marie Claire printed a story on the same topic in this month's issue-- but very disappointed for myself that this recent piece is essentially a mash-up of my three previous articles on the subject. It's not available online, but you can see that this national magazine article is getting mentioned more than my earlier articles. Now I know how Miss World feels, ha!

In any case, given all the publicity it makes sense that this year's television show earned its highest ratings in nearly a decade. Of course we've gotten some controversy already as well: 1) Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap is accusing Pageant organizers of racism after she was asked to move seats at the live show in Las Vegas, 2) A smart NYT op-ed reminds us that Miss America does indeed have a complicated racial past, 3) Some have mixed feelings about Alabama native Hagan winning as Miss NY, 4) Miss Iowa Mariah Cary (yes, really) invited a bit of media ribbing after awkwardly/awesomely responding to her OSQ ("on-stage question" in pageant lingo) that she only supports recreational and medical use of marijuana; Cary was another contestant with an interesting backstory (Tourette's), so I do wonder if that played into this at all, and 5) Many, including former queens, found it in poor taste that the hosts said several times that the contestants had not been eating and they then gave the ousted contestants doughnuts on stage so they could binge. Not exactly the message they want to be sending out. But at least the in SUPER POOR TASTE contestants' choice of the 16th member of the Top 16 disappeared, and the judges' choice was nice in a way (still hate the hurry-up-and-get-ready-in-front-of-everyone way they handle talent, but I guess it's here to stay now).

But any year you get multiple mentions in The New York Times, appear on TMZ, and get high TV ratings means it was a pretty good year for Miss America. And, who knows, perhaps we'll see a reigning Miss America competing on Dancing with the Stars soon?

So, here she is. Again. (Even if they didn't play a good version of "There She Is" during Hagan's coronation walk!)