September 15, 1995
Page 5 • The Battalion
CINEMARK THEATRES
tfere sfie comes
♦ 44
but what should she wear?
tudents have differing views on the swimsuit competition issue
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|^or 74 years, contestants in the Miss
^ America Pageant have paraded down
the pageant’s runway in swimsuits, but
at could all come to an end Saturday night.
The pageant has been criticized in recent
ars for exploiting women by having them
splay themselves in only swimsuits and
gh heels in the swimsuit competition,
ewers can call the pageant’s 900-number
iring the contest to decide whether or not
e swimsuit competition will be included in
is year’s and future competitions.
A&M students have expressed an interest
the subject, both criticizing and endorsing
igeant officials for their decision to let
ewers decide the fate of the contest.
Tracie Martin, an A&M student who
|on Alpha Phi Alpha’s national Miss Black
id Gold contest, said the swimsuit compe-
Ition should be eliminated from the Miss
erica pageant.
“Having had to compete in three levels of
imsuit contests, I feel it undermines the
e essence of beauty and of womanhood,”
artin said.
A&M’s contest does not include a swim-
lit competition, but Martin was required
participate in one at the state, regional
d national levels of the Miss Black and
lold competition.
“On the surface, it seems harmless,” she
id. “To actually be up there on stage in
hat position was very uncomfortable.”
Clint Eckhardt, a senior chemical engi-
leering major, said the swimsuit competi-
is an appropriate part of the pageant.
“If the contest is truly about physical
beauty, then the swimsuit contest should be
a part of it,” he said. “If the contest is about
the woman as a whole, then the swimsuit
contest should be de-emphasized.”
Miss America Pageant participants are
judged on their performance in talent,
poise and grace, swimsuit and evening
gown competitions.
"It seems harmless on
the surface. It under
mines the true
essence of beauty and
of womanhood."
— Trade Martin
Miss Black and Gold 1995
Eckhardt said officials should not be con
cerned about the presence of the swimsuit
competition, but with how the results of such
contests impact the pageant’s outcome.
“Maybe the whole question should be how
much the swimsuit contest should be weight
ed in the final results,” he said. “It is impor
tant to be included, but it shouldn’t be the
focus. It definitely should not be weighted as
much as the other segments.”
The Miss TAMU scholarship pageant
eliminated the swimsuit segment from its
competition several years ago.
Christie Barton, second runner-up in the
1995 Miss TAMU Pageant, said the pagean
t’s context should determine whether or not
swimsuits are included in the competition.
“In a pageant like Miss America, beauty is
a part of it, as much as people are trying to get
away from it,” Barton said. “That’s why
pageants were started in the first place.”
Barton said other parts of the pageant
could be seen as demeaning to contestants.
“If you’re going to take away the swimsuit
contest, you might as well take away the
evening gown contest,” she said. “There really
isn’t that much of a difference between them
anyway, especially now when the dresses are
just as revealing as the swimsuits.”
Eckhardt said the swimsuit competition
allows judges to see contestants in a
unique situation. *
“I like the swimsuit competition because
it shows a woman’s poise in a situation that
most women would be uncomfortable in,” he
said. “Sure, it helps to sell the pageant to
men, but for the judges, it’s a chance to
judge the women on being fit and for show
ing poise in that situation.”
But others say the competition serves no
purpose.
Scott Harper, a junior biology major,
said the swimsuit competition should be
eliminated.
“The contest isn’t necessary,” Harper
said. “It’s just for guys to look at. What does
it have to do with anything?”
Harper said there are other ways be
sides a swimsuit contest to tell if a woman
is beautiful.
“In today’s society, when you think of an
overall beautiful person, people automatically
think of physical beauty,” he said. “You can
also tell if someone is beautiful if they have
their clothes on. You don’t have to take their
clothes off to see that women are beautiful.”
Pageant has a long history before television
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)
-In the beginning, there was
no talent competition. There was
no television. There was no tear
ful walk down the Convention
Hall runway.
On Sept. 6, 1921, eight young
men agreed to compete in a
suit contest on the
Seventy-five years and 68
queens later, what start-
a tourism gimmick re
gains an American institution.
Through a depression, a world
»ar, the women’s movement, oc-
lasional scandals and hundreds
(lawful talent acts, the Miss
America Pageant has endured as
in annual rite of fall that cele-
ates American women.
When millions of viewers tune
ii Saturday for the 75th anniver-
ary Miss America Pageant, the
jivent they see will bear almost no
(illation to the inter-city beauty
jjageant won by 16-year-old mar-
champion Margaret Gorman
fWashington, D.C.
The first pageant was dreamed
by members of the Avenue
lotelman’s Association as one of
everal events in a “fall frolic”
(limed at keeping tourists on the
(Boardwalk after Labor Day.
An 80-year-old man dressed as
ng Neptune came ashore from a
facht anchored in the ocean and
led the women to Garden Pier,
where judges picked Gorman.
Campy as it was, word about
the beauty contest spread quickly
and far. In 1922, 58 women
showed up for the pageant. Gor
man lost out to Mary Katherine
Campbell, Miss Ohio, who later
became the only two-time winner.
Some years were missed in the
1920s and ’30s. It was not official
ly called Miss America until 1940.
By most accounts, the
biggest contributor to the
pageant’s longevity was its
marriage to television.
When Lee Meriwether was
crowned Miss America 1955 be
fore a national viewing audience,
the dowry was lucrative televi
sion revenue and — perhaps
more importantly — an image
beamed into living rooms from
Philadelphia to Phoenix.
Instead of relying on news
reels and newspapers to get
pageant news, fans could now
see it live. The image of Miss
America walking the runway,
roses in hands, fueled the
dreams of countless young girls.
“It’s like being a princess, be
ing in fairy tale,” said one of this
year’s hopefuls, Miss Vermont
Jennifer Lynn Faucette, who
dreamed of becoming Miss
America as she was growing up.
In the 1940s, the addition of
scholarship money under then-
executive director Lenora
Slaughter was the first of many
wood sometimes creates things
and they don’t last. But this is
heartland, this is America, this is
a program that originates with
them (volunteers),” she said.
Television did not make the
pageant, she said.
“Of course, TV helped. But it
was alive and thriving long be
fore TV,” Maffett Wilson said.
initiatives aimed at distancing
the pageant from its bathing
beauty origins.
The Miss America organiza
tion, through its state and local
programs, now makes available
$29 million in scholarships to
young women annually. Miss
America 1996 will receive a
$40,000 scholarship and the
other finalists Sat
urday will receive ;
from ars $8 P 00(> ngi to ! First lady plans to vote but
$30,000. The money | keeps her opinion a secret
must go to education :
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Even
Hillary Clinton is getting involved in the
Miss America Pageant’s swimsuit poll.
But don’t ask how she’ll vote.
"Except voting for my husband, 1 don’t
tell anyone how I’m vot
expenses or be for
feited.
The other contes
tants receive a
$3,000 scholarship
or savings bond.
What has kept the
pageant alive and
flourishing, according
to pageant officials,
is a network of
300,000 volunteers at
state and local
pageants that supple
ment the work done
by the pageant’s 14-
person staff.
“What’s made it
last is that it’s a
grassroots organiza
tion,” said Debra Maf
fett Wilson, Miss
America 1983. “Holly-
; ing,” Mrs. Clinton said
; in a telephone chat with
| Miss America Heather
I Whitestone.
Viewers of Saturday
: night’s pageant tele-
: cast can call in their
i votes to determine
I whether to hold the
i swimsuit competition.
Whitestone, who is
( deaf, spoke to Mrs.
I Clinton on Wednesday
; at her farewell news
; conference as Miss America. She used a
i special telephone system for the deaf.
Clinton
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