Miss America Swimsuit Portion Correctly Removed from Pageant

As the 2019 Miss America competition approaches this coming fall, we will not be seeing the controversial swimsuit portion of the pageant.

New president and former Miss America contestant, Gretchen Carlson, announced that the organization will be moving on from the swimsuit judgement. This is thrilling and revolutionary news for this organization because the purpose of the pageant to begin with has always had the goal of showing off the passion, talent, and ambition of women across of country.

This pageant has grown so much from what it was when it started in 1927. Originally a competition based on beauty, it is now a competition way beyond that. This outdated pageant has now phased into a competition where physical appearance has no limitation to women. They are competing on the grounds of personal characteristics.

We felt that this was indeed the right step that the organization needed to take in this day in age due to the social climate that is present today. This competition was working off the culture of the 1900’s where women were looked at much differently than they are today. Now, as a country, we are going through a wave of much needed feminism and equality among sexes, and women aren’t to be looked at as objects to be judged on physical appearance. Women have had an absent voice for so long, and this competition can now focus on the incredible watch over-the-top superlatives qualities that females have to make our country a much better place.

“We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance…We are moving it forward and evolving it in this cultural revolution.” Carlson told The New York Times in early June. This powerful statement said by Carlson sums up just exactly why Miss America is going in a new direction. It’s been made clear that us that the old platform does not represent our current culture. Our culture has moved past the idea that showing off your physical appearance isn’t healthy. Carlson had to experience the swimsuit competition herself during her time as a competitor, and it’s clear that she knows that portion of the competition does not live up to our culture today.

But showing off fitness and health has been a part of the competition since the beginning, so why not still showcase it? We believe that fitness and health can be shown in other ways without walking around in swimsuit in front of millions. There are other ways to show off fitness/health throughout the competition such as part of the talent portion. We have moved into an era where body shaming should not be tolerated and that women all of shapes and sizes are beautiful not matter what, and there is not specific mold that a woman needs to fulfill.

We are glad to see that Carlson and the rest of the board for Miss America have listened to our current culture today regarding physical appearance. Judging people based on the outward appearance is not something that is healthy for our society. The pageant moved on from being about outward beauty a while ago. It’s about the beauty within a woman and showcasing that off to the world. The Miss America competition is something that young women can positively look up to, knowing that being smart and talented is the real beauty instead pursuing unnatural physical beauty.