Miss USA 2007

In this handout photo provided by Harpo Productions Inc., Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith, of Clarksville, Tenn., is shown with Oprah Winfrey Thursday, March 29, 2007, during taping of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' in Chicago. Smith was a former intern for Harpo Productions and was being welcomed back and congratulated on winning the crown Friday, March 23. The show will air nationally on Monday, April 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Harpo Productions Inc., George Burns)


The new Miss USA Rachel Smith is interviewed on the NBC 'Today' television program in New York's Rockefeller Plaza, Monday March 26, 2007. Smith, 21, a 5-foot, 11-inch-tall brunette of Clarksville, Tenn., who won her title last Friday night, is a graduate of Belmont University and a former intern for the production company behind 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Newly-crowned Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007, poses in her new Mikimoto tiara, YMI Jeans and Ritmo Mundo watch in downtown Los Angeles March 24, 2007, the morning after winning her title. The 21-year-old from Clarksville, Tennessee, will spend her year-long reign making special appearances on behalf of the Miss Universe Organization, its sponsors and affiliated charities. REUTERS/Miss Universe/Darren Decker/Handout (UNITED STATES). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

Miss USA 2007 Rachel Renee Smith of Tennessee poses with Donald Trump after the competition in Hollywood, March 23, 2007. Trump will remain in the TV beauty contest business for three more years under a renewed deal with NBC for broadcasts of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, the network said on Wednesday. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, poses with Donald Trump after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, speaks to the media after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)


Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, poses after wining the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)



Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, is crowned by Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner after winning the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Miss Tennessee Rachel Renee Smith (L) reacts after being named Miss USA 2007 as Miss USA 2006 Tara Connor presents the sash to Smith in Hollywood, California March 23, 2007. Conner ended her tumultuous reign as Miss USA on a high note, turning her highly publicized stint in rehab into a story of courage and female empowerment. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, is congratulated by Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner after winning the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Rachel Renee Smith, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, and Danielle Lacourse, Miss Rhode Island, wait to hear who will be announced the winner during the Miss USA 2007 pageant on Friday, March 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. Rachel Renee Smith won the competition. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

I had the pageant on the television but I didn't pay attention to all of it. The informal question session was somewhat revealing of the contestants--a lot of vapid answers, hedging, and nervousness. The backstage bits that they ran before the commercial did not help to give a good impression--the way the contestants talked, the "typical" American way (stunted adolescent way of atalking that one finds in tweens and children even younger now) and the rather artificial encouragement giving from Miss Tara Conner... it also seemed like the contestants were much skinnier this year. And I thought there the campaign against eating disorders and negative body image was having some impact...

In a related story on ABC News, Miss Sweden 2006 has 2 M.A.s and is planning on getting a Ph.D. A pageant that is less about beauty and more about finding a spokesperson. In fact, the pageant was advertised as a job search in the wants ads of a newspaper. Surely a contest that is more amenable to today's feminism. (One wonders what other progressive ideals are promoted by the Miss Sweden pageant. Wiki notes how it has capitulated to the demands of feminists.)

In attempting to update itself, the Miss USA pageant just makes itself even more irrelevant. At the same time, there is very little feminine grace in the Miss USA pageant--even if the local pageants do not teach the contestants 20th century standards of composure and how to "act like a lady" one would think that the national pageant would take up the slac, but that appears to have disappeared. They can walk like models, but they don't handle themselves as ladies. It's unfortunate that how a woman handles herself has been reduced to sex appeal and the catwalk strut. (Although it seems that this year they were doing something else during the introductions--they had the contestants be themselves? Instead of being 'original' or 'unique,' many came off as being uncertain and intimidated by the spotlight, not having the requisite confidence that a Miss USA contestant should have.)

The Miss USA pageant neither affirms tradition nor is it radical enough for the feminists. At least when winners were just a tool for advertising beauty products for women it made some sense to cater to the appetite (especially of men, but of women also) for beauty. While the pageant has tried to take take itself seriously, by engaging in philanthropy, providing educational "opportunity" for the winners, and having articulate spokeswomen who are concerned about "world peace and ending hunger" and so on, one cannot forgot how these pageants are funded in the first place--they are merely the by-products of a bad economic system that misallocates resources, and nothing "good" that can be done after the fact can really compare to rectifying those inequities. It's like the thief who desires to be praised for donating some of his ill-gotten riches to some charity out of a "philanthropic" spirit.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

iirc, the contestant from Kansas, Miss Cara Gorges, is Catholic--she even gave an answer that would be otherwise controversial, but I can't remember if it was pro-life or something else. As she was a finalist, did she lose points with the judges (and as a result, the crown) because of this?

Photos of the contestants at Yahoo