To thine own self be true...

The Miss America Pageant is tomorrow. I'll watch it, but I'll be honest with you, I used to be obsessed with pageant week. I checked the Miss America website constantly to get any updates on what was happening in Atlantic City/Las Vegas. We went to the 2002 Miss America Pageant in AC, and we've been to Vegas twice. I loved it. It was my Superbowl/march madness/NBA Finals all rolled into one. As of today, I haven't even checked the website? Why? It's just not the same anymore.

Miss America is changing, and I'm not changing with her. In an effort to "keep up with the times," Miss America has revamped and revamped---and you know what? It never works. Here's a little hint Miss America: Go back to who you've always been. TV has enough of "reality." People liked the glitz and the glamor, the elegance and the etiquette. These classic values have been replaced with modern camera angles and sexualized swimsuit poses. Where's your self respect girls? Do we really need to stand in our swimsuit with our legs apart? Yuck!

So what will bring Miss America's ratings back? I really believe that returning to her roots could change things. Do a classic, normal pageant. No quiz shows. No casual wear competition. No more reality shows to make girls more "real" according to Hollywood's standards. Bring back classic, hard-working, service oriented girls like Heather French. Bring back real classic glamor. That's what America wants. We want a Miss America we can point out to our young girls and say, "Be like that. Follow her example." I just can't do that with what we're presenting anymore. We have enough celebrities to show us "reality." Let's rise above that. Let's be a "real" lady.



Oh, and here's the tangent I went off on earlier and moved to the end:
Just look at this pose of Miss America 2008.

Are we meant to be provocative? Is that what we're being scored on? Last time I checked swimsuit was about physical fitness, not how far apart you can keep your legs while you're in high heels. (Oh, and I totally support the swimsuit competition, but not the new poses.) This isn't liberating women, it cheapens them---don't they get it? It's one thing to be attractive in a swimsuit, it's another to be one step away from those little black bars that block out inappropriate images on TV.



And here to contrast is the Miss America from only ten years ago. She's wearing boy shorts. She won. She doesn't look gross. She's a girl in a swimsuit. Did I mention she won?


Sorry about the tangent. If you know me you know how I feel about modesty. Oh, and to be fair, here's a picture (admittedly bad picture, but I don't have any others on my computer) of me in my hideously ugly swimsuit (which I was forced to wear and HATED). But see, legs closed and still able to be physically fit. And I made the top ten along with TWO other girls in one piece swimsuits.

And this isn't the Mormon in me talking, it's the self-respecting woman. And whatever about the two-piece/one-piece issue. The swimsuits they're wearing now are so skimpy that I wouldn't let my children watch the competition. And I doubt that many parents out there let their kids see it.