Pageant adjusts focus
Miss America says swimsuits out, spotlight on scholarship, talent.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — After months of controversy within the Miss America organization, executives announced Tuesday that the nearly century-old pageant will no longer judge contestants on their physical appearance.
Effective this year, the show will scrap the famed swimsuit competition. Instead, the organization said in a news release, “each candidate will participate in a live interactive session with the judges, where she will highlight her achievements and goals in life, and how she will use her talents, passion and ambition to perform the job of Miss America.”
“We’re not going to judge you on your appearance because we are interested in what makes you you,” Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and the new head of the Miss America Organization’s board of trustees, said in making the announcement Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America.
For decades, women’s groups and others had complained that the swimsuit portion was outdated, sexist and more than a little silly.
Carlson, whose sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes led to his departure, said the board had heard from potential contestants who lamented, “We don’t want to be out there in high heels and swimsuits.”
The announcement came after a shake-up at the organization that resulted in the top three positions being held by women. The overhaul was triggered by an email scandal in December in which Miss America officials mocked winners’ intelligence, looks and sex lives.
Carlson said the evening-wear portion of the competition will also be changed to allow women to wear something other than a gown if they want. The talent portion of the contest will remain.
“It’s what comes out of their mouths that we care about,” Carlson said.
“We are no longer a pageant. Miss America will represent a new generation of female leaders focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment,” Carlson said in a statement. “We’re experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment movement.”
Carlson also appeared on Good Morning America on Tuesday morning and emphasized that the “pageant” will now be known as a “competition.” The organization’s goal is to be “open, transparent and inclusive,” she said, particularly to women who may not have felt comfortable participating in the past.
When Good Morning America anchor Amy Robach asked about a potential ratings drop for the nationally televised broadcast, set for Sept. 9 on ABC, given that some viewers may want to see women in swimsuits, Carlson
dismissed the idea.
“Interestingly enough, that’s not a highly rated part of the competition. People actually like the talent part of the competition,” Carlson said.
The Miss America pageant is not the cultural event it once was. The 1988 broadcast was seen by 33.1 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company. Last year, 5.4 million people watched.
Leanza Cornett, Miss America 1993, supported the dropping of the swimsuit competition.
“I hated it,” she said. “I always felt awkward and uncomfortable.”
She added: “In the climate of #MeToo, I think it’s a really wise decision. We’re living in a different era now, and when we move forward for the empowerment of women, we will be taken much more seriously, and I think that’s huge.”
But Kendall Morris, who competed in 2011 as Miss Texas, said the swimsuit competition taught her how to eat healthy and exercise, “not just for 15 seconds on stage but for a lifetime. It taught me a lifelong discipline beyond the Miss America stage.”
Because many of the state and local competitions that decide the Miss America finalists have already begun, the dropping of the swimsuit portion will not take effect at those levels until next year’s competition, the organization said.
Mallory Hytes Hagan, Miss America 2013, was a particular target of the emails, many of which ridiculed her weight gain after she won the title. In a Facebook video Tuesday, Hagan said she weighed 124 pounds when she was crowned. She said she is now 164 pounds, which she said most people would consider normal.
She is running for Congress in Alabama as a Democrat.
“There are tons of women across this country who are not ‘swimsuit-ready’ who are doing some really bad-ass stuff in their communities,” she said. “We should be honoring them, and that doesn’t involve putting on a two-piece bathing suit and walking on stage in heels.”
Information for this article was contributed by Wayne Parry of The Associated Press; and by Emily Yahr of The Washington Post.