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Miss America Ends Swimsuit Competition, Aiming to Evolve in ‘This Cultural Revolution’
Image
Contestants during the swimsuit part of the 2018 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. The Miss America Organization has struggled to reconcile its stated mission of empowering women and handing out scholarships with its requirement that contestants wear revealing attire.CreditDonald Kravitz/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions
By Matthew Haag and Cara Buckley
Miss America and swimsuits have been synonymous since its first contest in 1921 on the Atlantic City boardwalk. But what started as contestants wearing one-piece bathing suits, conservative by today’s standards, became women in revealing bikinis and high heels parading around for a leering television audience.
Now under mostly female leadership, the Miss America Organization said Tuesday that it was scrapping the swimsuit competition, starting at the national contest in September, in a sweeping change that will also reshape local and state contests.
“I’ve talked to tons of young people who’ve said to me, ‘I’d love to be a part of that program, but I don’t want to parade around in a swimsuit,’” Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor who is now the organization’s chairwoman, said in an interview. “I get it.”
harassment lawsuit in 2016 against the former Fox chairman Roger Ailes, said the competition would focus more on the contestants’ talents, intelligence and ideas.
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“We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance,” Ms. Carlson, who was Miss America in 1989, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. “We are moving it forward and evolving it in this cultural revolution.”
Cara Mund
✔@MissAmerica
https://twitter.com/MissAmerica/status/1003967565633327104
We’re changing out of our swimsuits and into a whole new era #byebyebikini #MissAmerica2019
7:51 AM - Jun 5, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
was named chairwoman in January, and several women were appointed to the organization’s highest ranks.
Those changes came after emails surfaced in December showing that Sam Haskell, the former chief executive, had made disrespectful and misogynistic comments about former pageant winners. Miss America is also confronting dwindling viewership as people turn away from live televised events.
[Read more: Miss America appoints women to top positions, months after scandal]
Miss America started as a beachside beauty pageant in 1921 in an effort by Atlantic City to extend the summer vacation season. At the first competition, the top finisher was crowned Miss America and a runner-up received the swimsuit trophy.
Over the decades, the Miss America Organization struggled to reconcile its stated mission — empowering women and handing out millions of dollars in scholarships — with requiring contestants to wear revealing attire. The organization’s leaders have said for more than 20 years they had thought about altering the swimsuit competition.
The directors of the Miss America state contests, who were told of the changes two days ago, offered a range of reactions to the announcement on Tuesday. Some welcomed it, while others expressed dismay. On Twitter, the Miss Georgia pageant reassured fans that its contest next week will still include swimsuits.
“It’s discouraging to hear, I was definitely a proponent of it,” said Chaz Ellis, the interim executive director of the Miss South Carolina Scholarship Organization, adding that he supported the national group despite the changes. “It’s about physical fitness, it’s about a healthy lifestyle.”
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Not everyone in the pageant world, however, agreed that the swimsuit portion was entirely about judging fitness. “I don’t know if that’s completely honest or accurate,” said Leah Summers, the executive director of the Miss West Virginia Scholarship Organization, who won that state’s title in 1991.
Ms. Summers said she anticipated “pretty dramatic changes” from the national organization after the appointment of a new chairwoman and new female board members. She said the new leaders are trying to keep Miss America relevant.
And, she noted, the news would no doubt bring competitors a measure of relief. “There’s something to be said about not having to think about walking across a stage in a bikini,” she said.
Beth Knox, executive director of the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant, said that she was thrilled at the development: A woman’s goals and aspirations were far more important than how she looked in a swimsuit.
“If people really listen with an open mind to the reason this change is being implemented, I just do not see how anyone could not support this improvement,” Ms. Knox wrote in an email.
Miss America is one of two major pageants in the United States. The other, Miss USA, was founded in the early 1950s by a swimsuit company after Miss America would not allow the company to use pictures of its contestants for advertising. Miss USA also operates Miss Teen USA and is part of Miss Universe, the international pageant that Donald J. Trump owned from 1996 to 2015.
asked viewers to vote on whether to keep it.
“We are not stupid,” Leonard Horn, the organization’s chief executive, said in 1993. “We are very sensitive to the fact that the swimsuit competition has always been our Achilles’ heel. The swimsuit competition has been controversial since the early 1920s, but it’s been retained because the majority of the people like it.”
The Miss America winner in 1993, Leanza Cornett, said at the time that the swimsuits should be scrapped. But another unscientific poll by the organization in 1995 found that two-thirds of respondents wanted it to stay.
It is unclear whether advertisers were consulted on Miss America’s decision, but the industry has been working in recent years to improve how women are portrayed on TV both in commercials and in programming. The Association of National Advertisers has led an effort called #SeeHer that has been assigning scores to ads and some shows based on whether women are depicted respectfully and as good role models for other women and young girls. Earlier this year, AT&T said that it had started talking with networks and cable companies about incorporating such scores into its ad buys.
Last year, 5.6 million viewers watched “The Miss America Competition” on ABC, down 10 percent from 6.2 million in 2016 and seven million in 2015. But many live shows have experienced similar ratings declines, including “Sunday Night Football,” the Olympics, the Oscars and the Grammys.
Ms. Carlson said Tuesday that viewers’ opinions had changed. The swimsuit portion of the competition was “not a highly rated part,” she said.
“People actually like the talent part of the competition,” she said.
Image
Contestants during the swimsuit part of the 2018 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. The Miss America Organization has struggled to reconcile its stated mission of empowering women and handing out scholarships with its requirement that contestants wear revealing attire.CreditDonald Kravitz/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions
By Matthew Haag and Cara Buckley
- June 5, 2018
Miss America and swimsuits have been synonymous since its first contest in 1921 on the Atlantic City boardwalk. But what started as contestants wearing one-piece bathing suits, conservative by today’s standards, became women in revealing bikinis and high heels parading around for a leering television audience.
Now under mostly female leadership, the Miss America Organization said Tuesday that it was scrapping the swimsuit competition, starting at the national contest in September, in a sweeping change that will also reshape local and state contests.
“I’ve talked to tons of young people who’ve said to me, ‘I’d love to be a part of that program, but I don’t want to parade around in a swimsuit,’” Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor who is now the organization’s chairwoman, said in an interview. “I get it.”
harassment lawsuit in 2016 against the former Fox chairman Roger Ailes, said the competition would focus more on the contestants’ talents, intelligence and ideas.
You have 4 free articles remaining.
Subscribe to The Times
“We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance,” Ms. Carlson, who was Miss America in 1989, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. “We are moving it forward and evolving it in this cultural revolution.”
Cara Mund
✔@MissAmerica
https://twitter.com/MissAmerica/status/1003967565633327104
We’re changing out of our swimsuits and into a whole new era #byebyebikini #MissAmerica2019
7:51 AM - Jun 5, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
was named chairwoman in January, and several women were appointed to the organization’s highest ranks.
Those changes came after emails surfaced in December showing that Sam Haskell, the former chief executive, had made disrespectful and misogynistic comments about former pageant winners. Miss America is also confronting dwindling viewership as people turn away from live televised events.
[Read more: Miss America appoints women to top positions, months after scandal]
Miss America started as a beachside beauty pageant in 1921 in an effort by Atlantic City to extend the summer vacation season. At the first competition, the top finisher was crowned Miss America and a runner-up received the swimsuit trophy.
Over the decades, the Miss America Organization struggled to reconcile its stated mission — empowering women and handing out millions of dollars in scholarships — with requiring contestants to wear revealing attire. The organization’s leaders have said for more than 20 years they had thought about altering the swimsuit competition.
The directors of the Miss America state contests, who were told of the changes two days ago, offered a range of reactions to the announcement on Tuesday. Some welcomed it, while others expressed dismay. On Twitter, the Miss Georgia pageant reassured fans that its contest next week will still include swimsuits.
“It’s discouraging to hear, I was definitely a proponent of it,” said Chaz Ellis, the interim executive director of the Miss South Carolina Scholarship Organization, adding that he supported the national group despite the changes. “It’s about physical fitness, it’s about a healthy lifestyle.”
Needle by Needle, a Heroin Crisis Grips California’s Rural North
When Anti-Trump Evangelicals Confront Their Brethren
The Places in the U.S. Where Disaster Strikes Again and Again
Not everyone in the pageant world, however, agreed that the swimsuit portion was entirely about judging fitness. “I don’t know if that’s completely honest or accurate,” said Leah Summers, the executive director of the Miss West Virginia Scholarship Organization, who won that state’s title in 1991.
Ms. Summers said she anticipated “pretty dramatic changes” from the national organization after the appointment of a new chairwoman and new female board members. She said the new leaders are trying to keep Miss America relevant.
And, she noted, the news would no doubt bring competitors a measure of relief. “There’s something to be said about not having to think about walking across a stage in a bikini,” she said.
Beth Knox, executive director of the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant, said that she was thrilled at the development: A woman’s goals and aspirations were far more important than how she looked in a swimsuit.
“If people really listen with an open mind to the reason this change is being implemented, I just do not see how anyone could not support this improvement,” Ms. Knox wrote in an email.
Miss America is one of two major pageants in the United States. The other, Miss USA, was founded in the early 1950s by a swimsuit company after Miss America would not allow the company to use pictures of its contestants for advertising. Miss USA also operates Miss Teen USA and is part of Miss Universe, the international pageant that Donald J. Trump owned from 1996 to 2015.
asked viewers to vote on whether to keep it.
“We are not stupid,” Leonard Horn, the organization’s chief executive, said in 1993. “We are very sensitive to the fact that the swimsuit competition has always been our Achilles’ heel. The swimsuit competition has been controversial since the early 1920s, but it’s been retained because the majority of the people like it.”
The Miss America winner in 1993, Leanza Cornett, said at the time that the swimsuits should be scrapped. But another unscientific poll by the organization in 1995 found that two-thirds of respondents wanted it to stay.
It is unclear whether advertisers were consulted on Miss America’s decision, but the industry has been working in recent years to improve how women are portrayed on TV both in commercials and in programming. The Association of National Advertisers has led an effort called #SeeHer that has been assigning scores to ads and some shows based on whether women are depicted respectfully and as good role models for other women and young girls. Earlier this year, AT&T said that it had started talking with networks and cable companies about incorporating such scores into its ad buys.
Last year, 5.6 million viewers watched “The Miss America Competition” on ABC, down 10 percent from 6.2 million in 2016 and seven million in 2015. But many live shows have experienced similar ratings declines, including “Sunday Night Football,” the Olympics, the Oscars and the Grammys.
Ms. Carlson said Tuesday that viewers’ opinions had changed. The swimsuit portion of the competition was “not a highly rated part,” she said.
“People actually like the talent part of the competition,” she said.
