Why do we have a Miss Black America? Or for that matter, why don’t we have a Miss Jewish America? Why does it matter anyway? In a society with so many people of so many different races and cultures, do we really feel the need to stand out from all the others by having our own beauty pagent? What would be the reaction if there was a Miss Jewish America pagent all of a sudden?
It would be moot. Bess Myerson crossed that line in 1945.
Who needs shiksas when we got her? Oi!
Your best approach if you are opposed to the Miss Black America pageant is to make your feelings known to the sponsors. It probably won’t have any effect, but it might work better than trying to stir up outrage on SDMB.
By saying I am opposed to the pagent, I do not mean anything against blacks. My point is that if every race or religion had its own pagent, it would be pretty dumb. I believe that the idea of a Miss Jewish America is ridiculous (I am Jewish, to let you know);I believe that the Miss Black America pagent is not much of a better idea than Miss Jewish America. If we have Miss Black America and Miss Jewish America, then why don’t we change “Miss America” to “Miss White Gentile America”? I don’t see skin color or religious persuasion as a reason to have a seperate pagent.
I think that people of different races (or ethnicities, to a certain point) are beautiful in different ways. Unfortunately, so often in our country, an almost exclusively white/caucasian idea of beauty has tended to dominate things in the scope of beauty pageants, although I think that’s changed somewhat since then (though not completely).
The Miss Black America pageant was started, I believe, back when that idea of beauty dominated things, thus leading to a kind of predjudice. A lot of the judges were brought up in a more segregated world, and likely would not judge a black woman to be more beautiful than a white woman (though I am sure there were exceptions). This prejudice no doubt led to a pageant where a more appropriate judge of beauty could be made. Now, of course, the pageant has been rendered near obsolete by a more enlightened view of beauty…but it has a traditional basis, and will probably endure.
Jewish-Americans women, however, would have less of a disadvantage in beauty pageants because they were indistinguishable from Gentile women. I mean, you generally can’t tell whether someone is Jewish just by looking at them, unless they happen to be wearing a yarmulke or a Star of David. You generally can tell, however, whether someone would be considered black by looking at them.
Religion plays less of a part in beauty pageants than ethnicity, because ethnicity is on the surface while religion is in the soul. It’s that simple.
Why would having a Miss Jewish America pageant be dumb? If you’re going to post such a tired question (and believe me, it’s TIRED), then cite some facts that support your belief that such a concept is inherently dumb.
But before you do that, tell me honestly that you think all of these pageants are dumb, just because they target a specific group of people.
Personally, I think all pageants are dumb. Almost as dumb as I am for responding to the OP.
[sub]I think this board is full of beauty pageant rejects. What do you think?[/sub]
When the Miss Black America pageant was begun, blacks were not admitted to the Miss America pageant. Once there was an organization in place to support the scholarships (provided by sponsors who get advertising for their contributions), the only thing that would cause the organization to go away would be a lack of funding. (Which organizers are going to give up their paid jobs just because you think the idea is silly?)
As to the idea of a “Miss Jewish whatever” pageant being silly, perhaps it would be. However, there are pageants for Hispanics and Asians, today. (And at least one pageant for women of Polish heritage.) Again, the pageants serve three purposes: advertising for the sponsors, scholarships (or, at least, awards) for the contestants, and jobs for the organizers. As long as people are willing to pay to watch the contests, the sponsors get their advertising and the organizers get their salaries. It is not a matter of whether any ethnic group “should” have such contests, but whether enough people will pay money to ogle the young ladies so that the money continues to come in.
American capitalism in action.
Not to mention 24-hour hard-core internet porn.
I’ll admit, there are certain facial features I always found attractive, and these features are more likely to be found on Caucasians than Negroes (my ideal woman is Sean Young. She has an exquisite nose).
Vanessa Williams (Miss America 1984) is the most attractive black woman I can think of (if anything, she looks better now than she did then), but the Miss America pageant is simply disinclined to choose any woman who is too exotic, simply because that woman is expected to hawk the products of the pageant’s sponsors during her reign. As long as the majority population of the U.S is white, I doubt you’re going to see a winner who has stereotypical black features.
Given this, I can’t see the harm in the Asian, Latin, and Black variations of Miss America. They’re not supported with tax dollars. No-one is forced to watch, and trying to ban or outlaw them would do more harm than good.