Understanding Beauty Pageants - Module One

1. Beauty
Queens
on
the
Global
Stage
Taking
and
Talking
[about]
Beauty
Pageants
Seriously

2. Ballerino,
Wilk
and
Stoeltje
• What
are
some
of
the
authors’
arguments?
– Beauty
pageants
are
everywhere
– Beauty
pageants
showcase
values,
concepts
and
behaviors
that
exist
at
the
center
of
a
group’s
sense
of
itself.
– Beauty
pageants
exhibit
values
of
morality
gender,
and
place.
– Beauty
pageants
made
iden>>es
and
cultures
public
and
visible.
• Let’s
look
at
each
one
through
the
lens
of
a
case
study.

3. Pageants
are
everywhere.
• Case
Study
#
1
– Home
to
drug
dealers
and
murderers,
El
Buen
Pastor
women's
prison
in
Bogota,
Colombia,
is
one
of
the
last
places
you
would
expect
to
see
inmates
wearing
long
silk
gowns
and
carefully
applied
make-­‐up.

4. Beauty
pageants
showcase
values,
concepts
and
behaviors
that
exist
at
the
center
of
a
group’s
sense
of
itself.
of itself
• Case
Study
#2
– Unknown
to
many,
the
Philippines
is
one
pageant
loving
na>on.
In
local
television,
there
are
not
only
pageants
for
women
but
for
men,
gays,
lesbians
and
transgenders,
toddlers,
young
girls
and
boys,
mother
and
daughter,
and
even
married
women.

5. Beauty
pageants
exhibit
values
of
morality,
gender,
and
place.
• Case
Study
#3
– The
beau>ful
and
mul>-­‐talented
Vanessa
Williams
was
stripped
of
her
>tle
of
“Miss
America”
because
nude
photos
of
the
famed
actress
were
published
in
“Penthouse
Magazine.”
This
situa>on
prompted
debates
around
morality,
gender
and
race
within
the
United
States.
• We
will
be
discussing
more
of
this
case
on
Module
3.

6. Beauty
pageants
made
iden@@es
and
cultures
public
and
visible.
• Case
Study
#4
– In
2013,
Nina
Davuluri,
Miss
New
York,
was
crowned
the
winner
of
the
2014
Miss
America
Pageant.
She
is
the
first
contestant
of
Indian
descent
to
be
crowned
Miss
America.
When
her
win
was
a n n o u n c e d ,
T w i Y e r
immediately
exploded
with
hateful
tweets,
with
people
calling
her
Arab.
• Are
you
familiar
with
this
debate?

7. Historical
Overview
• Several
arguments
stand
out
from
the
historical
overview
of
beauty
pageants
provided
by
the
authors.
– The
early
connec>on
of
pageants
with
na>onalism.
– The
some-­‐what
“ques>onable”
reputa>on
of
pageants.
• P.T.
Barnun,
beauty
as
spectacle
(1854).
– That
the
interna>onal
spread
of
pageantry
has
been
undocumented
by
historians.

8. Taking
Beauty
Contests
Seriously
• One
of
the
most
important
arguments
presented
is:
– “Cultural
cri@cs
argue
that
in
trea@ng
popular
culture
as
trivial,
we
risk
obscuring
the
opera@on
of
structures
of
power
that
are
masked
by
the
seemingly
frivolous
nature
of
events
and
images.”
(p
7).
• Think
of
the
most
recent
conversa>on
or
media
assessment
that
you
witnessed
that
revolved
around
pageants.
– What
was
the
nature
of
that
conversa>on/debate?

9. Taking
Beauty
Contests
Seriously
• And
finally,
they
add:
– “Beauty
contests
are
places
where
cultural
meanings
are
produced,
consumed
and
rejected,
where
local
and
global,
ethnic
and
na@onal,
na@onal
and
interna@onal
cultures
and
structures
of
power
are
engaged
in
their
most
trivial
but
vital
aspects.”
(p
8).
• Now,
proceed
with
the
reading
and
posi>oned
yourself
as
a
cultural
cri>c.
How
does
your
assessment
on
beauty
pageants
changed
acer
the
reading
?