The Miss Universe Organization just announced that from now on, the Miss Teen USA competition will be swimsuit-free. Competitors instead will be judged in a brand new athletic-wear competition. These programs have been scoring point after point in my book recently, on account of Army Officer Deshauna Barber, Miss District of Columbia, being crowned 2016s Miss USA. In addition, Erin O’Flaherty was crowned 2016’s Miss Missouri, becoming the first openly gay woman to win a state pageant.
Why this change stood out to me even more so than these two amazing women, however, was that it was an institutional change. Many have believed the swimsuit competition for years to be exploitative and objectifying, undermining the importance of the competitions and the women they featured by sexualizing them in front of an audience. Although the organization has said in the past that the swimsuit portion of the competition was meant to show of the athleticism of the young women participating, that was not always the message communicated to the audience. Perhaps it is the fault of our society, and not the pageant, but regardless, the women were not exactly being appreciated for their intellectual assets over their physical ones.
Even more importantly, the participants of Miss Teen USA are between fifteen and nineteen years old. It’s perverse, in a way, to have these young girls parading themselves in front of the eyes of thousands in their bikinis to supposedly show off their athleticism. Putting them in athleisure, however, is a much better alternative. These girls wear athletic wear all the time, for their sports and workouts. Athletic wear is able to truly be a symbol of their physical endurance and stamina. In addition, girls and women spend a miniscule portion of their lives in bikinis, and nearly a half of their daily lives in athletic wear. It just makes more common sense to make this change.
“If they are looking to expand this is a very shrewd move. It’s consistent with the overall brand and message the new owners are talking about,” says pageant coach Valerie Hayes. “I think that it will cause more parents to be open to their daughters competing in a state or local Teen Miss USA pageant, because its been a concern of parents in the past.”
Former Miss Virginia Nancy Redd says, “This is a great step in the right direction of women embracing their physical strength, as opposed to their appearance...This is focusing on what bodies can do, not just what they look like.”
These significant changes have all seemed to stem from the purchase of the Miss Universe Organization in September by the talent agency WME-IMG from the former owner, Donald Trump. Let’s just hope the positive improvement spreads to all other branches of pageant competition!
