No matter how hard I would have worked, there is no way I would have gotten an athletic scholorship for anything. I am skinny and have horrible coordination. It’s not like anyone can get one if they work hard enough.
I think that that Miss America is asinine too. Still, there are scholorships only avaiable to athletic people, there are sholorships only available to Black people, there are sholorships only available to people decended from veterans of certain wars. Why not sholorships only available to pretty and talented women? They work very hard to win that contest and millions of people enjoy it. It seems reasonable to me.
I’m fairly certain (after having watched the blurb at the end of the pageant last night) that the number one criterion is not “prancing around in a swimsuit.” That particular event was only worth 10% of the total competition.
And is it happens, VH1 was airing a show about the pageant and a number of former pageant judges said that the purpose of the swimsuit event was to look for physical fitness. The idea, so they said, was to see if the woman is physically fit. Beauty, again supposedly, has nothing to do with that event.
Here’s the breakdown of the judging:
[ul][li]40% for Composite Score from preliminary competitions[/li][li]10% for Casual Wear competition[/li][li]10% for Swimsuit competition[/li][li]10% for Evening Wear competition[/li][li]5% for Platform question[/li][li]5% for Quiz[/ul][/li]Here’s what the final blurb about judging said:
& 20% talent along with 40% prelims makes for 100%. The bit about the swimsuit still doesn’t constitute the “number one thing” the contestants have to do to win.
In state Miss America competitions (like Miss NJ, Miss VA), the breakdown is 40% interview, then talent, and swimsuit and evening gown. So what counts the most is the woman’s mind and devotion to her platform.
Jeez, I always thought that the subscribers to this board were, almost by definition, pretty bright. OF COURSE Miss America is sexist, offensive nonsense. Sure, beautiful people (and let’s not kid ourselves that the contest is “judged” on anything apart from physical beauty - when a great big fat woman with a sparkling personality, or someone with a facial disfigurement, wins it, then I’ll reconsider) have the right to use what they have to get on in life; but to award scholarships on any grounds apart from ability in that particular subject area is just wrong. And yes, it’s stupid to let unacademic basketball players train as lawyers also. These arguments were had in the seventies when Eric Morley, the trollish little shitehawk, was forced to take his “Miss World” meatmarket to the third world. The whole charade is demeaning to those who compete and even moreso to those who watch and enjoy it, and the fact that academic scholarships are being awarded according to the results simply perpetuates the idea that Americans are deeply, deeply shallow.
While my personal favorite, Miss Virginia Nancy Redd, didn’t win she did finish in the top 10, has already graduated from Harvard and won $250,000 on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (of which she donated 10% to her church). I’ll hasten to guess that she’s not sweating the OP’s scorn.
The difference is that the Miss America scholarships are designed to allow women to educate themselves at the colleges of their choice, while athletic scholarships for men --well, the ones that require a man to be able to run, tackle, or throw a ball through a hoop–are mainly designed to showcase future first-round draft picks for the major sports teams. Although doubtless there are thousands of athletic-scholarship recipients who make good use of their time at college to earn quality degrees, is there anyone here who could provide anecdotes about students who killed time taking basket-weaving courses and Icelandic Studies while waiting for that call-up to the leagues?
Actually, if you take about five seconds to bump around the internet with google, you will see that the Miss America contest and its state subsidiaries award scholarships based on a variety of criteria…
On top of the pageant scholarships, they offer scholarships for academic achievement, and community service among other things.
I’m not a big fan of these kinds of contests, at all*. But, having seen the link, I am obliged to concede that the well-rounded criteria have probably been followed.
Why? Simple. I could see better-looking women in a casual stroll around the UCF campus, the mall, or around the I Drive area of Orlando. So the only other option, besides bad taste on the judge’s part, is well-rounded criteria.
Of course since the judging is based on everything other than how one looks in a swim suit, and since athletic ability and physical fitness has nothing to do with how one looks in a swimsuit, then the pagent will of course discontinue the swimsuit and other clothes rack portions of the competition.
Nah, not a chance. People tune in to watch babes strut their stuff. Bright babes, talented babes, yes, but first and foremost, the pagent is a meat market.
Someone’s never heard of a little something called the Miss Universe Pagent! We’re not the only one’s who have beauty contests, sweetheart.
I used to go off on how superficial Miss America pagents were, then I realized I was just bitter because there’s no way in hell I’d ever get in one.
The women who compete in these pagents are not idiots. Have you seen some of their accomplishments? I was dumfounded when I looked further into it. Harvard degrees, medical degrees, law students, these women have earned every bit of the recognition they have recieved. So they’re pretty and that gives them an edge in a competiton that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Like many other posters have already said, that’s no different then scholarships given on the basis of race, religion or althletic ability.
Someone’s never heard of a little something called the Miss Universe Pagent. America isn’t the only country that has beauty pageants, sweetheart.
I used to go off on Miss America too, then I realized I was just bitter because I didn’t have a chance in hell of qualifying.
When I actually started paying attention to these women’s qualifications, I was dumbfounded. These women are not mindless beauties. As others have pointed out, many of them have very impressive degrees and backgrounds. They work damn hard and deserve whatever recognition they recieve.
So, they’re pretty. That gives them an edge for a particular scholarship that they wouldn’t have if they weren’t conventionally pretty. So what? As many posters have already pointed out, it’s no different than an athlete having a certain edge for an athletic scholarship, or someone of a certain race or religion having a edge for a particular scholarship.
I concur. Having reviewed the photgraphic evidence, I must come to the conlusion that looks are a very minor part of this whole thing. What I will say is that these women are doing the best with what they’ve got, I would wager that if you saw some of these girls out of their fancy dresses etc. they would not be remarkable attractive. I didn’t see any true natural beauties in that lot.
I always thought Miss America started out as a unabashed beauty contest in the 1920’s (where sexy women would bare their ankles!). Was it much later that the whole “scholarship” angle was added to give the contest an air of relevance to modern thinking, to to make it more politically correct.
I would think that physical attractiveness would count for much more on the state level than in the pageant itself.
Each contestant had to compete in the pageant for her home state* (and, most likely, in local pageants as well). When it comes to choosing the lady who will represent Nebraska or South Carolina in the MAP, the judges probably have to choose from a much bigger pool than fifty women. After narrowing it down to a few finalists, who are all intelligent, accomplished, and have good stage presence, the dealbreaker is probably, “Who will look best on TV?” That’s when they start analyzing everything from color of hair to length of leg. Whereas, in the MAP, all the contestants come up to the mark, looks-wise, so the judges’ decisions are based much more on who will be the best spokesperson for the pageant’s main sponsor.
*This might not be too rabid in, say, Michigan or Alaska, where you only have a few women who really want to be Miss America, as opposed to the ones who just got a kick out of competing for Miss Whale Blubber. But the Georgia and Texas state pageants must be epic.
“Why shouldn’t pretty people enjoy rewards and affirmation for their beauty? Not everyone can be smart (or cheat without being caught) and get good grades”
Because, stupid, no-one should be going to college if they aren’t smart and can’t get good grades. THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT!!! And no, you shouldn’t get to college beacuse you’re pretty, or because you’re a good athlete, or because Daddy can afford to pay for it. You should go because you’re the best and brightest at your chosen subject. End of story.
And, Snoopyfan, you are a feminist, even if you don’t like the lable. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
