Plan B Forum

Miss USA lingerie photos draw fire

May 12, 2010 - 11:15AM



Arty or tawdry? ... Nicole Michele Johnson, Miss California USA 2010, poses for the Miss USA lingerie photo shoot.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then this year's Miss USA contestants are giving the world an eyeful thanks to a controversial lingerie photo shoot.

Critics say the publicity photos ahead of the pageant in Las Vegas this Sunday are a tawdry attempt to publicise the event. Organisers say they are making the show, which previously frowned on overt sexuality, more modern.

"All the contestants really pushed their envelope," Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organisation, said on MSNBC television. "We've always been the cutting-edge pageant."

The pictures on the pageant's website show contestants, such as Miss South Dakota, Emily Anne Miller, in fishnet stockings, garter belts and often not much else beyond a lot of make-up.

Penny Nance, at Concerned Women for America, said the project smacked of "tawdriness."

"It's certainly a concern for American moms," she said.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/ ... -uw1n.html

Ok, why is it a concern for US moms?

Gob wrote:If you know where I can buy mannequins which look like that BigRR...

A 24-year-old Arab-American has beaten 50 other women to take the 2010 Miss USA title.

Rima Fakih of Dearborn, Michigan, won the pageant on Sunday at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip after swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions.

When asked how she felt about winning the crown, she said, "Ask me after I've had a pizza".

Fakih nearly fell while finishing her walk in a long, strapless gown because of the length of its train, but she made it without a spill and went on to win.

During the interview portion, Fakih was asked whether she thought birth control should be paid for by health insurance, and she said she believed it should because it's costly.

"I believe that birth control is just like every other medication even though it's a controlled substance," Fakih said.

Fakih replaces Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton and won a spot representing the United States in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant. She also gets a one-year lease in a New York apartment with living expenses, an undisclosed salary, and various health, professional and beauty services.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/ ... -v7ug.html

Big RR wrote:

Gob wrote:If you know where I can buy mannequins which look like that BigRR...

Isn't there some Japanese form that sells sex dolls for several thousand dollars, amde to order? I'd bet they could make one that looked like that for you.

The newly crowned Miss USA won a competition of a different kind in 2007 - a stripper contest.

US media reported that Miss Michigan Rima Fakih picked up the top prize at a ‘‘Stripper 101’’ contest held by a US radio morning show.

The radio station said organisers of Miss Universe - the contest Fakih will represent the US in later this year - contacted them over photos and information about the contest.

Host Mojo said on the station’s website he hoped the 24-year-old would not be stripped of her crown.

‘‘It would be foolish to consider anyone other than Rima to represent the USA,’’ he said.

‘‘The photos taken from our website are no more provocative than those on the Miss USA website.’’

Fakih reportedly won ‘‘jewelry, gift cards, adult toys and a stripper pole for home use’’, celebrity website TMZ.com said.

Lebanese-American Fakih was hailed as the first woman of Arab descent to win the coveted beauty pageant title.

A resident of the city of Dearborn, Michigan, Fakih was selected by a panel of celebrity judges at the event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

US news report said Fakih's family moved to the United States while she was a baby and that she was raised in New York City, where she attended a Catholic school, until 2003 when her family moved to Michigan.

She told pageant organisers her family celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths.

The Detroit Free Press newspaper reported that a large crowd gathered at a restaurant in Dearborn, which is heavily Arab-American to watch the contest and cheering Fakih and dancing and singing late into the night Sunday.

"This is historic," the daily wrote, quoting Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, according to the Free Press.

"This shows the greatness of America, how everyone can have a chance to make it."

Another Dearborn resident, Zouheir Alawieh, 51, told the Free Press, "This is the real face of Arab Americans, not the stereotypes you hear about.

"We have culture. We have beauty. We have history, and today we made history. ... She believed in her dreams."


http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/ ... utostart=1