| Subject: Selling Yourself for Scholarships? |
Author:
MLOP
[Edit]
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Date Posted: 10:32:46 11/13/09 Fri
The following article was printed in the IPFW ((Indiana U/ Purdue U @ Ft Wayne)) campus newspaper. Its caused quite a bit of rage on the Indiana board ((understandably)), but I wanted to share it with you.
Beauty Exchanged for Scholarships
You may have seen posters hanging up around campus lately advertising scholarship money for beautiful women. If that does not sound familiar, it is probably because these advertisements are hidden behind glimmering crowns and sashes.Indiana has been holding beauty pageants that ultimately give area students scholarships based on their looks instead of their brains. Among these pageants are Miss Fort Wayne, Miss Three Rivers Festival and our very own Miss IPFW, which is being held Sunday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m. in the Walb ballroom.
The crowned winners of many pageants state-wide go on to compete for Miss Indiana, who then represents our state in the Miss America pageant.
“While academic scholarships support values of intellectual, social and other values, beauty pageants support ‘beauty,’ that is, objectified notions of beauty that support a false ideal,” said IPFW Women’s Studies Professor Mary Ann Cain, adding that these ideals “uphold unrealistic and damaging images of beauty.”
Cain is among many men and women at IPFW who are absolutely outraged by the fact that these pageants are being held.
Cain even has a Miss IPFW poster hanging on her office door, though it bears a thought bubble which reads “Strengthening the glass ceiling one crown at a time.”
While these pageants are being held to help further education, the standard is that the winner must be gorgeous.
“Pageants like this also send the message that it is women’s bodies (of a certain kind) that matter more than any other aspect of their being. It objectifies them, which means that it cuts off connections we have to them as human beings,” Cain said.
According to Miss Fort Wayne’s website, the requirements to compete in the pageant also include that the competitor must not have ever been married, pregnant or an adoptive parent. That seems to imply that if women are married or mothers, they are no longer recognized as beautiful in the public eye. Also, that means that married women and mothers do not have the same chance for an opportunity to educate their selves as younger, unwed and childless women have.
Additionally, these beauty pageants claim yet another scholarship that area men cannot apply for. As most men know, there is rarely an opportunity for them to receive financial help toward education. For women, though, it seems to be in abundance.
“Men are rarely objectified in this way,” said Cain, “in fact, many people see it as humorous when men ‘stoop’ to act like women.” This can be seen in countless examples. For instance, when a woman appears nude in a movie it is rarely not supposed to be viewed as sexy. However, when a male appears nude it is almost always a humorous scene and/or is meant to seem gross to the audience.
When everything is said and done, women are being judged and picked for a higher level of education based mainly on their looks, bodies and ability to present themselves in evening gowns and bathing suits. As Cain said, these pageants are telling young people that “Women’s bodies are not their own; that to compete in the world, they must live up to specific ideals of beauty; that their bodies are what matter in terms of their identity.”
Thoughts? Discussion? Ideas?
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- Thanks, MLOP. I'd like to write a letter, and would love some of your eloquent thoughts. (NT) -- Hoosier Girl, 10:38:27 11/13/09 Fri
- I've had limited time this week to post, but this one is a fire starter. I'll start taking people like Ms. Cain seriously when, instead of only tearing something down, they successfully build something up -- like inaugurating a scholarship pageant "not based on looks." There are a thousand other directions this thread can take, but that's my personal bottom line. (NT) -- New York Guy - Who will be going to the gym tonight, to work on my "looks" -- because I enjoy it., 10:53:44 11/13/09 Fri
- For a college professor, Cain is awfully close-minded and loves to make sweeping generalizations without offering any support to back up her ideas, along with the author. "However, when a male appears nude it is almost always a humorous scene and/or is meant to seem gross to the audience." Really? Did you watch every movie in existence to come to this conclusion? Small part to nitpick, but I thought that was a funny statmenet. Competing in pageants has given me a lot of self-confidence, and I've never felt more secure with who I am as a person, my intelligence, and yes, my beauty, than I do now, and I credit a lot of that to my experience competing. You need to do your research in academia, and that includes researching both sides of your argument. I could just as easily stereotype a Women's Studies professor as an unattractive, unkempt, and hairy woman who doesn't wear proper undergarments because she burned them all 20 years ago, but I know better than to assume or judge prematurely. (NT) -- Pumpkin Pie, 11:15:51 11/13/09 Fri
- This just burns me! Pageanty is a sport - plain & simple. I see no difference in our competitors than the others that develop athletic skills or musical talents. Why is this writer not appalled that athletes recieve scholarships based on natural talents and gifts that others don't have? I received a music scholarship that others did not because I have not only have a gift for music but I worked to develop that gift. Is that not fair for those that are not musically inclined? What about those that ARE gifted but choose to not develop their talents because they don't enjoy it? According to this writer, I suppose we should give college $ to everyone just because it not's fair to Not give it to them. I mean - COME ON NOW - no one is forcing anyone to compete OR to attend the event. (NT) -- homie (who gets so PO'd @ this line of thinking that I start rambling . . . .!!!!), 11:37:13 11/13/09 Fri
- I have never understood a woman not supporting another woman's choice to make her own decisions that are right for her as an individual. THAT attitude tears women down. As for male nudity, she doesn't go to alot of movies nor the Theatre,it seems.Male nudity is profound in both genres of entertainment, and not always for arousal. (NT) -- Andres, 11:56:14 11/13/09 Fri
- You guys totally rock! Keep the thoughts and ideas coming! (NT) -- Hoosier Girl, 12:15:41 11/13/09 Fri
- I second homie's arguement and often use it when defending the program from a scholarship perspective. I will also add that Cain says there is an ideal or standard that is unrealistic for young women to achieve. If that was the case then why do we continually present 50+ woman year in and year out that embrace these qualities that are so unattainable. Also last time I checked from year to year Miss America/USA doesn't look like a clone of the past years proving that beauty comes in many forms. (NT) -- Clever Login-thinking about writing to Ms. Cain, 13:34:38 11/13/09 Fri
- My favorite part of this is the part that says that the pageant implies unmarried women are more beautiful than married women or mothers. That is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS! I wonder how Debbye Turner or Deidra Downs would view this lady, essentially, calling them stupid! A doctor and a Rhodes Scholar.... yes, that clearly shows that Miss America does not care for intelligence whatsoever. I'd love to send this lady a letter. This article totally burns me up! (NT) -- Former MAO Miss State, 13:37:32 11/13/09 Fri
- We award scholarships for athletics, financial need, musical talents, intellectual abilities, community service efforts, leadership and others. Why not pageants? (NT) -- webby - the PacNW gal!, 18:42:20 11/13/09 Fri
- Funny thing is, there are a few of us pageant moms who WISH the crown was awarded strictly on beauty (and not the danged fishbowl question!!). (NT) -- silver, 19:05:56 11/13/09 Fri
- hmm... and I would have to say that is the reason it is your DAUGHTERS competing, and not you. I'm sure that if your daughter is competing in MAO, she is in it for ALL of the four points, not just because she is pretty. I can't name one contestant who would say that she wished she could win strictly on beauty. That completely undermines all that this organization is about. (NT) -- contestant, 19:34:54 11/13/09 Fri
- Not necessarily - the whole point of Miss America was finding the most beautiful contestant and is still an important part of the pageant given that you compete in SS and EG. I'm not saying its the only aspect of MAO, but it should be part of it since two major portions of the competition is based on how you look. And there are many girls who do enter because they are pretty, only to discover the other aspects of the competition that helps them. As for your attitude, I think you, young lady, have a long ways to go in being a proper beauty queen. (NT) -- MLOP, 19:51:50 11/13/09 Fri
- Gee. Whiz. I assume when I read political diatribes against pageants that ALL pageants are being referenced. Silly MOM that I am. Many, many years ago when I competed---oops, I mean when my DAUGHTER competed in the USA system, there were actually edicts from the national directors that it was all about "beauty, beauty, beauty". That's why, even though I no longer compete--oops again, it's my DAUGHTER--I'll always prefer the honesty of the Miss U/USA organization. (NT) -- sil, the mom of the DAUGHTER, 19:54:51 11/13/09 Fri
- This argument against pageants never holds water. We reward scholarships for EVERYthing. Im sorry but this sort of thing always comes from those who are bitter that beauty counts for alot more than we'd like to admit and they don't meet the criteria!!! (NT) -- Fannie Pack...not a feminist., 21:10:22 11/13/09 Fri
- This makes me wonder....are there any scholarly works any of you have read that support pageantry as positive for women? I'm sure some of you can share some interesting articles/books with us. (NT) -- daffodil, 21:51:01 11/13/09 Fri
- So football is Concussions exchanged for scholarships; and pageants make people bring out the best in them selves. I saw the power of this when my mom was ill and my well preserved Aunt came and it gave my mom hope that 76 wasn't the end of the world, my 80 year old Aunt looked great. Made me rethink everything about personal appearance. (NT) -- dessertdeb, 22:34:49 11/13/09 Fri
- In the pageant world, there's always this argument. I'll only say this: When people are ignorant of something, be it a sport, a people or group, a religion, or the like, they automatically form an opinion about it. Unfortunately,that opinion is generally negative. This is a perfect example. That being said, the people I've seen with the worst opinions of pageants generally 1) don't really know anyone who's involved, 2) aren't related to anyone who's involved, and 3)could never compete if they wanted to. The woman who wrote this is surely in this group. If she had a good friend who was involved, or a daughter who competes, or had competed herself, she wouldn't have these opinions. She would GET it. Nuff said! (NT) -- MS Mama, 08:35:41 11/14/09 Sat
- Here's what burns me: beauty is a commodity. One I have... one of FEW I have... and why should I not be alloted the opporitunity to benefit from it? I was smart, but not enough for an academic scholarship. I was good a sports, but not good enough for a sports scholarship. Why should I be marginalized for trying to make it to college based on something I do have? And P.S. I paid for my Masters from Hopkins with it. (NT) -- MMBG, 13:20:17 11/14/09 Sat
- What a dummy....my kid used her experiences in pageants to write great papers in her woman's studies classes. Not to mention her awards paid for the class. (NT) -- Sister, 13:30:13 11/14/09 Sat
- BTW - there are pageants for married women too. Pageants have age limits too so that the teen girls don't compete with the older girls etc. Duh, just like in sports - high school teams don't play college teams etc. (NT) -- webby - the PacNW gal!, 17:26:50 11/14/09 Sat
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