Why you gotta be so rude, dont you know pageant girls are human too! Society judges when they don’t understand something… take into consideration abstract art, poetry, or even song lyrics. All of which are commonly misunderstood, but if we all try to be a little more informed, rather than opinionated, we all might gain a little more compassion for individual uniqueness. Your thoughts shape your vision. Its a daring thought to comprehend that you actually choose what you see in others & yourself. For some reason, its become alarmingly apparent, that society’s opinion of Beauty Pageant contestants is viewed as mutant bimbo lemurs following the spotlight to fame. What’s truly unfortunate, is how the media chooses to portray these contestants & winners in the same fashion. “Media is the message & the messenger”, this should blatantly obvious with the current event of Ebola invading the U.S. being discussed in every newspaper, news broadcasting site, radio talk show, twitter feed, blah blah blah. The media is giving you information to choose to see their opinion on subjects & not the opportunity to formulate your own. Lets all not forget the Y2K scare of 1999 propelled by the media, that encouraged you to dig a hole in your backyard, fill it with canned goods, and call it a bunker. (Im very proud to say Im a Y2K survivor *insert sarcastic tone here) We do have to identify, that the majority of most generalized groups regarding any topic will always have a few bad apples in the bunch that are full of scandal, but what is most upsetting is how these bad apples somehow make more press & the stereotype of the group itself. Keep in mind that people make mistakes, including you & myself! And unfortunately some just can’t fathom the bigger picture of how much their actions really do affect their peers and societys judgement. How can we make it more common for positivity to be associated with pageants? We speak up. Instead of highlighting the lemurs, I choose to praise the unsung pageant heroes like Oprah (yes the big O was a former pageant contestant!) Kristen Dalton, and every titleholder in your local community raising funds for charities & changing lives! They are the ones that make you think twice about that inaccurate stereotype of us pageant participants. As much as I love Beyonce & her music, I actually feel sad when I hear her song “Pretty Hurts”, and feel even worse when I watch the music video. It would dishonest for me to say that at one point or another during competition/training for Miss California USA or any other regional pageant I’ve participated in, that I wasn’t overwhelmed, or that I felt like I didn’t need to change who I am, what I believe or how I look. But its also accurate to say that we all have a tendency to fixate on the negative during a challenging point in our lives. I unfortunately started only seeing the challenge of the competition in front of me rather than appreciating how far I have come. It was only after each competition that I continuously realize that I am my only competition and barrier. Like I said before its a daring thought to comprehend that you actually choose what you see in others & yourself. Beyonce may have identified some of the social pressures associated with pageants, but she never told you that its your choice to compromise & hinder yourself. I choose to see the internal beauty that drives all of us formers, current and future titleholders impacting all of our communities wellbeing.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 07:11:28 +0000
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