Apparently the National Costume Competition of the Miss Universe Pageant is largely a crash course in cultural stereotypes. While some contestants donned more traditional clothing from their home countries, others created extravagant costumes roughly inspired by their heritage. And Miss USA showcased two of the most…
Like the United States (and pretty much any other place on the planet), Venezuela is a country divided. Debate still lingers over who won the country's presidential election following the death of Hugo Chavez and they're dealing with a struggling economy. But also like the United States (and any other place on the…
It’s possible you may have been going about your business entirely unaware that one of those rare calendar events is upon us. Much like the appearance of Halley’s comet or the upcoming convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah, Sunday night marks the second Miss America pageant of 2013.
There She Is, a new documentary short that follows two best friends competing in the 2011 American Beauties Plus Pageant, is an interesting glimpse into the world of pageants for large ladies. These women work on their evening wear looks, interview skills, and stage presence just like the Miss America crew, but…
The documentary Miss You Can Do It, which premiered on HBO last night, is a heartwarming look at the beauty pageant of the same name that celebrates little girls with special needs and challenges, founded by Abbey Curran, who has cerebral palsy and was the first woman with a disability to compete in the Miss USA…
You know what every good parent says about child pageants: the earlier you force your offspring into them, the better. In a perfect world, you'd be able to shove a bedazzled headband through your amniotic sac and set your sonogram to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," but technology isn't there yet. Fortunately, Jenny…
As recently as last year, the Miss Universe Organization disqualified a contestant—Miss Canada, Jenna Talakova—after they discovered she was transgender. When they finally changed their rules regarding the exclusion of LGBT contestants in April, Kylan Arianna Wentzel of Century City, California, was a shift manager at…
In last night's Miss Universe pageant — held in the historic international city of Las Vegas — a particular look was favored: Tanned beige skin, dark hair. Miss Peru, Miss Hungary, Miss Russia and were finalists.
Among the many important lessons Little Miss Sunshine taught us (Marcel Proust was gay! Family is important! The Air Force won't let you fly planes if you can't tell the difference between red and not-red, and your supercilious, suicidal uncle will tell you this in a condescending, oh-I'm-so…
Miss America contestant Allyn Rose took one of those terrifying genetic tests and found out that she's got the same genetic mutation that may have led to her mother's fatal breast cancer. And instead of waiting for a diagnosis that she believes is inevitable, she's following in the footsteps of other women who have…
JonBenet Ramsey—the little girl whose murder became national news and introduced the mainstream to the peculiar world of child beauty pageants—would have turned 22 years old on Monday, August 6. It's been 16 years since her body was found in the basement of her parents' home the day after Christmas 1996, but her…
Sometimes a girl has to pick between two different, totally-not-bad-at-all things, and she has to make that decision at a point in her life when every tribulation leading up to that moment has basically been prom hair and pillow fights and shopping mall foot fatigue and Psych 101, but because her life hasn't been…
On Saturday, Connor Boss became the first legally blind contestant to compete for Miss Florida USA. She lost to Michelle Aguirre, but finished as a top-five finalist, this in spite of the fact that she can really only rely on her peripheral vision to see the stage.
If someone told you there was a "Miss Holocaust Survivor" beauty pageant, you would probably think they were making a not particularly hilarious joke. After all, the Holocaust doesn't seem like a tasteful basis for an evening of fun, but more importantly people who survived a systematic campaign that killed six…
Hating on pageant moms is as classic an American past-time as cookouts and baseball games, but what about pageant fathers? Sure, the pageant dad is a more elusive beast — maybe because male involvement in a child beauty contest only serves to amplify the pageant world's already too-sexualized nature — but that…
After claiming to have witnessed someone else witness evidence that this year's Miss USA pageant was merely a choose your own adventure book in which all the endings are exactly the same, former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin is facing accusations of pageantry defamation and some pseudo legal trouble.
Well, I know I don't need to tell you guys this, because you've been raptly following the results of the Miss World Fiji pageant, but the Miss World Fiji pageant has turned into a real shit-show. Following complaints from concerned citizens, pageant officials have decided to take the title away from this year's…
In what is a major step forward for transgender women looking to live out the pageant queen's dream, the Miss Universe Organization announced today that they will officially change their rules to allow transgender contestants to into their pageants. That means they'll not only be allowed to compete for Miss Universe,…
There are certain experiences of growing up that we all share: Feeling powerless because you don't get to make the rules, feeling powerful because your imagination can create anything, picking on someone and being picked on. Then, of course, there's the time when one mother gets her daughter to say that your mother…
Human sandpaper Donald Trump has done something okay for once by reversing Miss Universe Canada's abrupt decision to kick contestant Jenna Talackova out of the pageant for being a transgender woman. Of course, Trump's overruling follows Ms. Talackova's move to lawyer up and hire none other than legal fishwife Gloria…
