The Miss Teen USA beauty pageant is a competition that pits 51 girls from the age of 14 to 19 against each other in contests of beauty and personality. The whole goal of the organization is and always has been, according to their website, to encourage young girls to be themselves and be confident. But people have always been left asking, how does parading young girls, most of them minors, around in swimsuits in front of millions of viewers do anything but sexualize them? Miss Teen USA has always stood by this largely inappropriate event saying that it promoted "athleticism." That is, until now.
On Wednesday, June 29, Miss Teen USA announced that it would be replacing the dreadful swimsuit competition with a new athletic wear. Now, teens from across the country will compete by modeling athleisure attire (example shown below) along with the gown and interview rounds. This new event more accurately fits the description "promoting athleticism" than swimwear did. Almost everyone is applauding this move because it is not only more appropriate for minors but also because it lessens the focus on the participant's looks.
However, not everyone thinks this move is enough. Though it definitely is a step in the right direction, the athletic wear round will still be judged on appearances. That means the first two-thirds of the pageant are all about how the contestants look, leaving only one round that actually focuses on the girls themselves. This doesn't seem right for an organization that wants girls to be themselves. You would think that they'd implement a talent show portion in order to see what the girls are passionate about or good at if they really wanted to make an improvement. Or, as one writer said for Self.com, "If the competition actually wanted to judge the athletic ability of the women, presumably they’d put them to an actual athletic test."
Regardless of how much more progress needs to be made, this is an awesome step. We will no longer have underage girls walking around scantily-clad for pervs like these to see. We won't be judging them on how they look almost-naked anymore. And we won't be sending the message that looking good in a swimsuit is just as important as your personality.
My favorite thing about this situation, though, is this, after 32 years with the same events and same president, Mr. Donald Trump, this groundbreaking change is coming about within the first year of president Paula Shugart's leadership (according to Wikipedia). Imagine what else she can lead the organization to do? I think the athletic wear round is just the beginning.
