While I was looking for pictures of beauty queens on Google, the only pictures I found were with beauty queens in nice clothes with make-up on. This is the exact stereotype that most people give for beauty queens: they are just beautiful women dressed up nicely. Everyone forgets that they are not just trying to win to be known as beautiful women, they also are trying to win a scholarship and to be looked up to as a good role model or leader in a community. They have also been known to donate money and speak at schools and in communities about some of the issues the world faces these days like AIDS/HIV or different cancers. As Kate Shindle says "The contestants who go to Atlantic City each year are intelligent, capable women who have something to say." (616) This quote is very important and although all the media and news reporters show is the beauty and maybe the talent in the show, we never see the interviews the contestants go through to get on to the show where they talk about their personal political views and platform issues.
Kate Shindle personally said "I helped raise an estimated $20 million to $30 million for HIV/AIDS organizations worldwide." (614) Kate proves to the world that beauty queens do think about others and don't just focus on their beauty or how good they look in a bathing suit. This whole article reminds me of the movie called Miss Congeniality because an undercover cop (Sandra Bullock) goes into the pageant thinking she is going to go through hell being with the stereotype she gives the contestants in the pageant. She gets to know the girls, and she comes to find them to be some of the most intelligent and goal striving women she has ever met. That just comes to prove that stereotypes should never stop you from meeting people, because you may come to find they are the most wonderful people you will ever meet.
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I completely agree with you. Many times people only see these Miss America contestants as beautiful women and stay tuned to watch the contest only to see who wins the crown. But after a contestant wins people forget her purpose or do not see what her job really is. For instance, I would have to admit that even I did not know what the purpose of Miss America was until recently, I found out that it was a scholorship program. Shindle mentions that winning the crown should be an accessory to what the winner has to contribute to her environment. It is unfair that the interview portion is not shown as much during the airing of the pageant, because I think it perpetuates the stereotype that people already have about beauty queens; therefore, we do not get to see how intelligent these girls really are
I also that it was interesting that one of the first things that came to mind was the Miss Congeniality movie with Sandra Bullock. The movie personifies this whole idea of how people feel about these pageants. Sandra Bullock's character learns that the pageant contestants are actually intelligent women who have issues and business to discuss with the public. Yet it is almost an old unwritten rule that Miss America should be seen and not heard. I am grateful that Miss America is much like her own corporation who travels to different countries and contributes immensely to important causes, such as HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world.
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