Plan B Forum

Miss America is scrapping the swimsuit portion from its pageant

(CNN)The next edition of the Miss America pageant will scrap swimsuits and will be more inclusive to women of all sizes, the contest announced Tuesday.

Gretchen Carlson, the chairwoman of the Miss America board of directors, announced on "Good Morning America" that the event will no longer feature a swimsuit portion.

Miss America will be a competition, not a pageant, Carlson said on the show Tuesday.

"We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance. That's huge," she said.

Carlson also said the new Miss America competition will be more inclusive to women of "all shapes and sizes."

The official Miss America Twitter account tweeted a short video of a white bikini going up in a puff of smoke with the hashtag #byebyebikini.

In place of the swimsuit contest, the contestants will take part in a live interactive session with the judges, according to a statement from the Miss America Organization, "where she will highlight her achievements and goals in life and how she will use her talents, passion, and ambition to perform the job of Miss America." [Wow, that sounds like riveting television...]

But the elimination of swimsuits isn't the only change coming to the 97-year-old event. The evening gown competition is being revamped as well. Carlson said contestants will now be able to wear "whatever they choose."

Contestants will also discuss how they would advance their social-impact initiatives during this part of the contest. The talent portion of the competition will remain.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/05/us/miss- ... index.html

Misleading headline; not only are the swimsuits are being scrapped, they won't be parading without them either. for a second I thought they were really trying to make the pageant more interesting.

That thought never crossed my mind Big RR, but I like the concept.

Big RR - That's the first thing I thought of too.

• (Great Dirty minds think alike?)

You mean, like this? It might work but it would probably be competing with internet porn. (Not that I would know, of course.)

No porn, just good old American nudity.

It won't be long before they stop declaring winners and give them all a trophy.

Gretchen Carlson said contestants would no longer be judged on their appearance.

I nearly pissed myself!

Someone make sure to let me know when the contestants are all valedictorians and regular looking, too - then I might watch it.

BoSoxGal wrote:Gretchen Carlson said contestants would no longer be judged on their appearance.

Someone make sure to let me know when the contestants are all valedictorians and regular looking, too - then I might watch it.

Or all are wearing burkas, or answer all questions while standing behind a curtain.

First they made it racially inclusive, which was the right thing to do ... even though there is still a parallel "Miss Black America" pageant — women of other racial origins need not apply.   Next to go was the 'unmarried' requirement ... a ruptured hymen — for whatever reason or under whatever circumstances — was no longer an automatic disqualifier.   Then they started promoting the event (and the entire pantheon of affiliated lead-up competitions at the local/regional and state levels) as a "scholarship pageant" rather than a beauty contest.   Now the c⃥o⃥n⃥c⃥e⃥p⃥t⃥ ⃥o⃥f⃥ ⃥p⃥h⃥y⃥s⃥i⃥c⃥a⃥l⃥ ⃥a⃥t⃥t⃥r⃥a⃥c⃥t⃥i⃥v⃥e⃥n⃥e⃥s⃥s⃥ ⃥a⃥n⃥d⃥ ⃥i⃥d⃥e⃥a⃥l⃥i⃥z⃥e⃥d⃥ ⃥b⃥e⃥a⃥u⃥t⃥- ... sorry, the "gratuitous display and objectification of a woman's body, reducing them to little more than sex objects" has been consigned to the compost heap.

I suppose it's only a matter of time before the talent competition gets the heave-ho as well.   How can one fairly compare academic talent (think former child actress/now published mathematician Danica McKellar, for instance) with a learned skill like dance, singing, and baton twirling, or a creative talent which allows one to produce art or literature?

-"BB"-

The whole stupid patriarchal pageant industry should go down in flames, IMNSHO. Parading women like prize cattle for sale to the highest bidder. Yeah I know - it’s for scholarships! There are tens of thousands of scholarships all over the country that don’t require displaying oneself like livestock. I hope getting rid of the swimsuits runs the program into oblivion- and all the pageants with little Jon Benets, too.

As far as I'm concerned, it's been all downhill ever since they dumped Bert Parks...

Bicycle Bill wrote: Or all are wearing burkas, or answer all questions while standing behind a curtain.

That's it! They should replace the swimsuit competition with a burka competition!

Check it out. The Miss Palestine Pageant.



My favorite is Miss East Jerusalem, front row, second from the right. Anyone who looks at those feet can see she has a hidden, yet sensual beauty about her.

Hubba hubba!

VAAH VAH VOOM!

I agree. She’s hot!

RayThom wrote:You mean, like this? It might work but it would probably be competing with internet porn. (Not that I would know, of course.)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FzXkFN_nBv0/maxresdefault.jpg

Someone at the Philly Inquirer must have read my email.

I hope getting rid of the swimsuits runs the program into oblivion

I think you may get your wish BSG...

When I look at the whole range of changes they're planning, (that segment on discussing their "social-impact initiatives" should be a huge audience gathering replacement for the swimsuit competition; maybe they can start broadcasting the show on PBS) it seems to me that if you wanted to deliberately sabotage the economic viability of the pageant, you really couldn't do a better job...

I don't know, I think the last time I watched was when Bert hosted; not much could make it worse for me.

Perhaps these changes would affect the beauty contest aficionados (if there are any), but to me its substituting one boring thing for another.

Personally, I have no more objections to beauty pageants of this type than I do to body building contests or "reality" shows like the top model or the bachelor--I don't watch them, but I don't begrudge those who want to participate in them their right to do so.

The whole idea of a beauty contest is stupid. An excuse to parade naked woman is all it ever was. But now our concept nudity has changed. The culture has degraded to the point it would have to have a live on stage intercourse competition to generate any interest.

“ In days old a glimpse stocking was looked open as something shocking but now anything goes”.

Why not just legalize nudity and be done with it.

And, can anyone explain the pants below the underwear thing that can still be seen in the black community?

And, can anyone explain the pants below the underwear thing that can still be seen in the black community?

sure, it comes from pison attore where belts are prohibited and pants just naturally fall low.

As for "nudity", what beauty pageants have you been watching? I feel like I'm missing something.

Why not just legalize nudity and be done with it.

either it's legal or I bore the law when I took a shower this morning.