every girl's dream

On Saturday, Cynthia told us about a brochure she got in the mail that "seemed like a slap in the face." It was a promotional brochure for the "National American Miss" pageant. Looking at the girls in the pictures, she felt excluded; the qualities the pageant seemed to be looking for were ones that she would never possess. Though the brochure talks about the opportunities available to girls who participate -- like scholarships and prizes -- she felt completely shut out of it. Here was another example of "symbolic violence."

I looked up the pageant's website. They are quick to note that they are "definitely NOT a beauty pageant." They point out that girls are judged on the basis of four different categories. Notice, however, that the "Formal Wear" category counts for three times as much as "Community Service"!

The pageant claims to be about more than just feminine beauty; it is "dedicated to celebrating America's greatness and encouraging its future leaders." National American Miss is selling an idea of America and an idea of American success. The young girls who enter are told, "You’ll feel good about yourself and gain the competitive edge to succeed later in whatever field you may choose, from modeling to business." The pageant tells us that the doors of the American Dream are open to all -- as long as they can scrape together the $440 entrance fee and as long as they are able to make themselves into some version of traditional American beauty.

I don't know but I have a feeling that most of the families that enter their daughters in these kinds of contests are lower-middle or working-class. (Does anyone have any statistics?) These are the kinds of families most in need of scholarship assistance. Why does our society persist in telling young, poor kids that the best paths to achievement lie in fields like sports and beauty pageants (fields that one out of a million people succed in)? Perhaps because it's easier to feed them those kinds of dreams than to create more substantive educational and employment opportunities for them.