Beauty pageants - for the male gaze? For the women gaze?

NotMyRealName814 · 2022-03-27T00:12:52+00:00

They're absolutely for the benefit of the male gaze and the system grooms younger girls to believe that their looks are the most important thing about them and that women should compete with each other for male approval.

Im not as opposed to them as I am porn or other sex "work" but it's close.

Lost_Kale90 · 2022-03-26T22:43:11+00:00

"You are f*ckable, I want to f*ck you. Here's a scholarship and some networking opportunities."

ShegoGreen · 2022-03-27T07:07:31+00:00

The Miss America age limits are 17-26

The Miss Universe age limits are 18-28

This means that a teenager can be paraded around in a bikini for old men to ogle internationally. This also means that, according to them, women in their 30's+ cannot be eligible for some reason. How is a 17 year old a well-rounded, accomplished candidate if they barely graduated from Highschool? How is a 35 year old woman who has had time to become a well-rounded confident woman no longer eligible for candidacy?

Edit: The candidates must also not be mothers or married. That is very telling.

PerspicaciousCat · 2022-03-26T21:23:55+00:00

It’s absolutely for the male gaze. Why aren’t there beauty pageants for men? I think they perpetuate the idea that women should be valued for their looks first and foremost. Also notice how there aren’t beauty pageants for women past a certain age. I wish they wouldn’t exist anymore.

ferociouslycurious · 2022-03-26T23:24:32+00:00

They use $ and public service to lure women in and groom them to be pickmes. It’s disgusting and IMO always has been.

flower_vulva · 2022-03-26T22:15:03+00:00

I think beauty pageants absolutely promote the male gaze and the notion that women have to be judged for their beauty instead of their personality, intelligence, and abilities. Even if those aspects are included in the competition, they are ultimately not the main focus. Men are not judged based on their beauty, but on merit. Is there anything more stereotypically, almost cartoonishly objectifying than walking down the catwalk, striking a pose at the end?

Such competitions also erode class solidarity. Neoliberalism would have you think "just use your beauty for your advantage, that's all that matters." Deeper feminist analysis would make you realize that the very notion of "beauty" is a stick to beat "ugly" women with ("ugly" meaning not meeting the ever-changing, unreachable standard). In other words, the more women promote the idea of "I'm a programmer but also pretty! I can do it all!" or "I'm head of the company because I leveraged my looks!" the harsher the standards for the average woman become, and the worse it gets for women that got the shorter end of the stick. It leads to low self-esteem, depression, obsession with makeup taking up hours every day, plastic surgery, botox, etc. This gets increasingly obsessive and sad with increasing age. All the while men laugh and focus on their work instead of what they look like. We should all be pushing for beauty to be irrelevant, and for women to be judged based on merit instead.

Regarding the argument that those pageants can give you scholarships, monetary rewards or other opportunities, why aren't there other, actually merit-based opportunities for women? I'd rather get a scholarship based on my performance in science for example than for my looks, which are just a genetic lottery.

I'm saying all this as a woman who is conventionally "pretty" or "cute." I understand that it gives me an advantage, but I hate it. I hate it because I constantly see butt-ugly men in high positions. They don't need the "advantage" of beauty to get there. I don't want "uglier" girls to be at a disadvantage. It's simply not fair.

daisy_0720 · 2022-03-27T07:53:04+00:00

There are literally rural country shows where livestock are groomed, collared and paraded around while judges vote and give prizes for the best specimen.

How is this any different.

Platipus6 · 2022-03-27T00:17:55+00:00

Watch "Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)" it's hilarious

idiosyncraticg1 · 2022-03-26T20:58:22+00:00

Unless it’s a beauty pageant created and financed by women, which also focuses on “inside beauty”, it will always be a chance for men in power to use women.

alpinepunch2021 · 2022-03-27T13:11:12+00:00

A quick way to tell if something is for the male gaze is to ask whether it's something done by men too - if not, then it's decidedly for the male gaze.

thegenuinedarkfly · 2022-03-26T22:59:37+00:00

I was in a pageant for young women when I was 18 and won runner up (“Princess” - lol). Like someone else before me, it was an agricultural community. We didn’t have a talent portion or a swimsuit competition. I wouldn’t have agreed if that was the case.

Over the course of 14 weeks, we learned public speaking, how to field on-the-spot questions and there was an extensive test on community knowledge. These were all part of each contestants total score and we all took it pretty seriously.

Looking good didn’t hurt, but it was not the most important criteria and there were definitely girls that were conventionally “prettier” that didn’t win anything.

The prizes were unremarkable (no scholarships) but it was a fun year traveling around local communities with the winner and meeting lots of great people. I still have close friends and fond memories from that time many, many years ago.

christianlady_ · 2022-03-27T15:30:09+00:00

I’ve heard through the grape wine that beauty pageants, Ford model contests and the like are a “selection process” for rich men. High escort type thing. Donald trump used to (is??) be a heavy beauty pageant sponsor. We know what he did in the 80s. Arab sheiks buy and sleep with the winner/runner ups of Ford models contest.

jjlew922 · 2022-03-26T21:08:50+00:00

Former beauty queen here and I honestly can’t give you a straight answer 😅. Granted, I was part of the county fair system supporting agriculture across the county and nationally. It’s a competition rated on intelligence and talent but also how good you can walk a runway in a bathing suit. It provided me a scholarship for school and it was endearing to see little girls faces light up when they saw “a princess with a crown”. There’s gotta be something to the Disney princess thing, and also patriarchal society having young women on display and judged…I’m imagining a mens pageant and laughing right now at how ridiculous that probably would be. Can’t wait to see the responses on this one!!!

WCAttorney · 2022-03-26T23:44:33+00:00

I think it’s like bodybuilding

ro0ibos2 · 2022-03-27T13:07:03+00:00

They exist because they draw an audience, meaning a lot of $ponsors. I personally find them boring, but there is a large portion of the population that likes rating women. The US isn’t the only country that has beauty pageants.

Title	Beauty pageants - for the male gaze? For the women gaze?
Author	Throwawaylikehay
Upvotes	176
Comments	25
Date	March 26, 2022 8:19 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/FemaleDatingStrategy
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/FemaleDatingStrategy/comments/tp37ub/beauty_pageants_for_the_male_gaze_for_the_women/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/FemaleDatingStrategy/beauty-pageants-for-the-male-gaze-for-the-women.1110128 https://theredarchive.com/post/1110128

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