"Flame Off"

I am currently Miss Twin Cities Teen and will be competing at the national Miss Royalty International Pageant in March.  I tend to watch a lot of YouTube videos about pageants and tips on competing.  There are obviously always the videos that show "the worst pageant responses ever".  I came across the "Top 10 U.S. Beauty Pageant Fails" video, and got a little upset at some of the selections.  I became even more upset when I started reading the comments.  I know that pageantry can be a controversial subject, and many people feel that pageants are simply getting up on stage in pounds of makeup, big hair, expensive dresses, and swimsuits, but they are so much more than that.  I was able to use information that I new personally from competing, provided a quote from the Miss America website, and provided links to the Miss America and Miss USA websites so that the person I was arguing with would be able to do more research on the topic before claiming that pageants essentially just objectify women.

I have posted the link to the YouTube video below.  The argument is between myself and "przebieglabrukiew" about his or her statement as well as the comment by "RickL Awrence".  The last comment made by "przebieglabrukiew" essentially told me that I may be right and that he or she could see where I was coming from.  I explain to him or her that I could also see where they were coming from, but that from personal experience and the research I have done, I knew that there is a lot more to pageants than just how you look and how pretty you are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojQtfU5W_mE

My Comments:
1. These pageants are scholarship programs. They do not focus specifically on beauty, they are based on so much more than that.  According to the Miss America website, " ...the Miss America program exists to provide personal and professional opportunities for young women to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community. It provides a forum for today's young women to express their viewpoints, talents and accomplishments to audiences during the telecast and to the public-at-large during the ensuing year. Almost all contestants have either received, or are in the process of earning either college or postgraduate degrees, and utilize Miss America scholarship grants to further their educations."

2. Just as in every other program of any kind, there are the people who make everyone else look bad.  These examples are spread out through many years, it's not like every girl who competes in these pageants are idiots.  Some of these girls simply stood up for what they believe in, what is wrong with that?  Also, I'm sure that you do not know everything about everything--I know I don't--so I don't know why some people expect these girls to have a perfect answer to absolutely everything...they are humans too.
Public speaking is extremely difficult, and I know firsthand that it is hard to get up in front of a large group of people and speak, especially when you are given an impromptu question that you weren't expecting.  These topics are typically quite controversial, making answering them even more difficult.

3. That is exactly what happened in #4, granted, that topic should be something she should know about, she fully admits that she was not sure what it was and that she needed to look into it more.  And as I said before, this is such a small number of examples of poor responses compared to the HUGE number of wonderfully talented, intelligent, fit, beautiful women who have competed in these programs.
They don't necessarily all of a sudden "turn self-conscious and lacking in confidence", they are just sometimes taken aback by a question they were not fully prepared for.  I have had instances and seen many instances in any type of public speaking where, even if the person knew exactly what they were talking about, they sometimes simply slipped up on a couple words or misunderstood a question, which then may completely throw them off.
I believe you are referring to the "Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit" portion of the competition, which is not for the purpose of "walking half-naked in front of millions of people".  Its purpose is to show that these women take care of themselves by eating healthy foods and working out.  If you look closely at the competition, it's not a time for these women to just strut around in a bikini and heels, it is to prove that they truly care about their bodies and that having a healthy lifestyle improves your fitness, health, and even confidence.

4. I urge you to take a look at the Miss America website:http://www.missamerica.org/default.aspx and the Miss USA website: http://www.missuniverse.com/missusa/members/home and just kind of look around.  I'm sure you will learn a lot about pageants that you didn't know before!  You could also look into other pageants, which have different requirements as well.  Not all systems are the same either.
I can tell you that many pageant systems are geared toward furthering the girls' or women's education; highly encourage, if not require, community service; and help to build interview skills, public speaking skills, confidence, poise, and many more skills needed in the world today.

5. If you were to ask any woman who has competed in a pageant--keep in mind that I am not talking about children's glitz pageants like the ones shown on Toddlers and Tiaras--what she gained from competing in pageants, she would most likely tell you that she gained a ton of self-confidence, friendships, public speaking  skills, interviewing skills, health, and some even earn scholarships in order attend or continue attend college to further better their education and to become successful based on their skills, not how attractive they are.  I really do wish that you would look into the websites that I provided to you, as well as many others (just by doing a simple Google search), and find out all of the benefits of competing in these programs, as well as how much of an impact they make with their community service and organizations that they have founded in their community, country, and potentially even the world. There is so much more to these pageants than the "swimsuit competition" and answering an on-stage question.  Many beauty pageants are not only based on physical beauty, but inner beauty--how good of a person the woman is.

6. That is okay, I had to leave for some time as well.  Thank you very much. I can see your point as well, but I personally feel that the competition in pageantry can be fun, as well as the opportunity to make some really wonderful friends.

I find it similar to any sport. In sports, you let referees or judges (depending on the sport) evaluate your playing or performing abilities. It's the same in pageants; you let a panel of judges analyze and evaluate how you present yourself and all of the hard work that you put into competing.

All of my comments interacted with the other person.  I did comment a few times in a row, but the other person responded to at least part of each of the comments that I had made.