Tag Archive for "Miss America"

Posts Tagged Miss America

Bess Myerson: The only Jewish Miss America, pianist, politician you’ve never heard of

Meet the late Bess Myerson: the first and (as of today) only Jewish Miss America, pianist, adviser to three presidents, Senate primary candidate and consumer rights advocate.

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Watch: John Oliver takes on the Miss America Pageant

We gave this John Oliver segment on the Miss America Pagent a shout-out in the DFCS yesterday, but, goddamn, it deserves its own post. Feminist critiques of beauty pageants are certainly nothing new, of course, but Oliver’s absolute incredulity that Miss America is still a thing in 2014 is really charming and contagious.

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

Quick hit: Anu Bhagwati on the military and Miss America

At the MAKERS blog yesterday, friend of the site and no-joke total badass Anu Bhagwati, President of the Service Women’s Action Network, had a few things to say about Sgt. Theresa Vail, who represented the great state of Colorado in last weekend’s Miss America pageant. Bhagwati questions the media coverage of Vail and notes that it sure would be nice to get some media coverage of women in the military that isn’t directly related to bikinis and tattoos:

I don’t blame or resent Sgt. Vail for participating—I actually admire her talent and drive. And I don’t hold her even remotely responsible for either reforming the beauty pageant industry or for representing all military women everywhere. But I disagree with her that ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

Indian-American who has suffered from bulimia crowned Miss America; reactions are predictably terrible

On Friday Chloe asked if we should do away with beauty pageants. She argued that pageants are a kind of “low-hanging fruit” of feminism, part of a much larger problem relating to how we think about what it means to be a “good” woman. Now that the pageant is over and Miss America has been crowned, it’s time to consider another kind of “low-hanging fruit”: racists on Twitter, and the consistently terrible New York Post.

Both took to the Internet to voice their concerns over the crowning of Nina Davuluri as Miss America, the first Indian-American to earn the title. God bless Buzzfeed for schlepping through the dregs of Twitter to compile this listicle “A Lot ...

On Friday Chloe asked if we should do away with beauty pageants. She argued that pageants are a kind of “low-hanging fruit” of feminism, part of a much larger problem relating to how ...

By Courtney Baxter • 11 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

50 years ago, today.

The stigma of loving transgender women.

“When people say women of color, am I included in that equation?”

Urban Outfitters #fail.

This is exceptionalism we don’t need.

One classroom, two genders.

Hollywood’s “sassy black lady” problem.

What Scandal gets right, and wrong.

9/11 and communities of color.

Aziz Ansari, Boom.

There’s no politician quite like her.

Mister Cee, hip-hop and tolerance.

“What people don’t realize is that most of these girls are adolescents.”

#4immigrantwomen

New fave Tumblr: Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train

Making isn’t frivolous.

On getting called out.

Miss America, what’s the verdict?

Debunking ...

50 years ago, today.

The stigma of loving transgender women.

“When people say women of color, am I included in that equation?”

Urban Outfitters #fail.

This is exceptionalism we don’t need.

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

Should we do away with beauty pageants?

Our girl Courtney Martin says yes. In the Times’s Room for Debate, Courtney calls them outdated, and says they perpetuate the harmful idea that success in the real world depends on a woman’s ability to be a very particular kind of beautiful:

Let’s face it: the most beautiful women you’ve ever encountered would be total losers in a traditional pageant. That’s because authentic, messy, transcendent beauty can’t be scored. It isn’t tamed, plucked, planned, premeditated or rehearsed. And people like Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant, are clearly not the purveyors of it.

Real beauty is about resilience: girls and women who have been through something and come out the other side with ...

By Alexandra Brodsky • 11 years ago

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

Only sluts straddle motorbikes, amirite?

Forty years of Roe and we’ve never been so scared.

Justice Sotomayor will be the first Latina to swear in a president.

Wronging Rights asks: “What if we responded to sexual assault by limiting men’s freedom like we limit women’s?”

(Trigger warning) The Guardian‘s Suzanne Moore leaves Twitter after revealing her transphobia.

Maureen Dowd apparently doesn’t remember her own columns.

Miss America is a Brooklynite. Burn your hippest bras.

Fourteen ways Obama can push for gun control without Congress.

Only sluts straddle motorbikes, amirite?

Forty years of Roe and we’ve never been so scared.

Justice Sotomayor will be the first Latina to swear in a president.

Wronging Rights asks: “What if we responded to sexual ...

By Vanessa • 14 years ago

Miss New York Has Gay Rights Platform for Miss America Pageant

She’s like the anti-Carrie Prejean. I’ve never liked beauty pageants and am certain I never will, but I’m rooting for Miss New York to win the title for Miss America next year.

Claire Buffie won the competition for Miss New York this summer, with her platform being gay rights. Below is a recent interview where she discusses what she’s looking to achieve.

I particularly appreciate her drive to focus attention on bullying, cyberbullying and suicide among LGBT youth. She said to the Advocate in an interview, “People may think of marriage equality, but actually, gay rights is a platform for so many more issues.”

Again, let’s not forget beauty pageants have their own evils, like perpetuating harmful social beauty standards that ...

She’s like the anti-Carrie Prejean. I’ve never liked beauty pageants and am certain I never will, but I’m rooting for Miss New York to win the title for Miss America next year.

Claire Buffie won the competition for ...