Why did 1960s feminists object to beauty pageants? Among the reasons cited by New York Radical Women during their 1968 protest of Miss America, the ultimate prize was merely "the irrelevant crown on the throne of mediocrity."
Standing Out, Blending In
While demanding that women be superlatively beautiful, the Miss America pageant somehow forced them at the same time to conform to a common image. Women's liberation activists accused the pageant of representing women as "apolitical." This, according to NYRW, was how women were "supposed to be" in society.
The line of thinking went: Miss America contestants dare not stray too far from a certain image of beauty, nor from prescribed morals, habits and ideas, and certainly not from a sweet, demure personality. "Conformity is the key to the crown-and, by extension, to success in our society," declared Robin Morgan in the August 1968 protest publicity materials.
Miss America Moves Into the Future
The Miss America pageant changed in some ways after the 1960s protests. Some pageant watchers have observed that the organization does respond to shifts in society, and the women are no longer strictly "apolitical." The platform element of the competition was adopted by the Miss America pageant two decades later, in 1989. Each Miss America contestant chooses a relevant social issue, such as domestic violence, homelessness or AIDS, and the winner addresses her chosen platform's issues throughout the year she holds the title.
Miss Pro-Choice America
Miss America 1974 gave the pageant an early dose of politics. Rebecca King spoke in favor of legal abortion, a hot topic when she won the crown in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Rebecca King even ended up speaking at a conference of the National Organization for Women, bringing together the pageant and the feminist organization.
Forward March or Marking Time?
The social activism and protests of the 1960s and 1970s had many beneficial effects, perhaps including more political involvement from Miss America candidates and winners. However, the women's liberation criticism that the contestants "must not be tall, short, over or under what weight the Man prescribes you should be" may not fall so easily by the wayside.