Miss America 2.0 or 2.no?

I’ve been wanting to sit down and write this post for a while, but with gearing up for Miss California and appearances, I just put this on the back burner because honestly, it was very draining to think about.

The Miss America changes are multi-layered, kind of like an onion, and they are not black and white.

As many of you know, Miss America is under new leadership and created massive changes to the Miss America competition in June (in the middle of state competitions, might I add). In summary, some of these ENORMOUS changes include the removal of the swimsuit competition (lifestyle and fitness competition), talent was changed from 35% to 50% of your overall score, and instead of evening gown, it is a “wear-whatever-you-want” competition.

Before I delve into my thoughts, and boy, do I have thoughts…I will begin by stating that I love this organization, everything it has given me, the people involved, and the forever friendships I have built. The skills and experiences learned during my years as a titleholder are experiences that cannot be learned in a classroom or in a career. These are irreplaceable, indescribable, and irreversible, and I am forever grateful.

Okay, now on to the juicy stuff: MY THOUGHTS!

Unedited, unfiltered, and raw. Here we go…

Let me begin with the positive, because there is a rainbow with every storm.

Positive #1: I do love the statement, “Miss America’s new mission statement is: ‘To prepare great women for the world, and to prepare the world for great women,’” said Regina Hopper, President & CEO.” Miss America is, and always has been, an incredible organization filled with opportunity, experience, talent, kindness, scholarship, and success, and with some of these changes, the focus will be placed on each woman’s personal mission, her accomplishments, and her goals. I LOVE that.

Now, for the *clears throat* negative…Where do I begin?

Issue #1: “Removing the swimsuit competition will be inclusive so all types of women can compete whereas they didn’t feel comfortable before”

I have never been a size 0, and I was never considered “skinny.” I was muscular and strong, with wide shoulders and defined thighs.

Do you know what competition is the most intimidating and vulnerable? Swimsuit.

Do you know which competition made me feel liberated, strong, and healthy? Swimsuit.

There has never been a “type” to compete in the Miss America Organization. I have seen every single body type come through this program and feel confident and beautiful during the lifestyle and fitness competition. It takes a LOT of motivation, work, and dedication to wear a swimsuit on stage.

During competition season guess who have been the healthiest and strongest she had ever been? We the contestants.

This part of the competition allows us to put our health first and foremost and strive to be our best possible self. We eat clean, exercise, make great decisions, and we learn how to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle- which is exactly what it is, it is a lifestyle!

Issue #2: The Miss America leadership did not ask us for our thoughts and opinions before making these changes

We, the contestants, Executive Directors, and volunteers are the backbone of this organization and we should have been asked our opinions respectfully on these changes before they were made. We are the ones who it impacts and we should have been able to give our thoughts and opinions in a simple poll which would have given the leadership team an accurate representation of how we feel.

Issue #3: “We are now open, inclusive and transparent and I want to inspire thousands of young people across this country to come and be a part of our program,” Gretchen Carlson says that by removing swimsuit we are going to draw more people in and make it inclusive…But what about the other boundaries?

When we sign our contestant contracts, we sign a really long list of “exclusive” rules that we must adhere by including: age, address, marital status, criminal background, character, female, parent status (you cannot have had a child or have a child), and must be a naturally born female.

If Miss America truly wants to be inclusive and invite as many deserving young people into their organization then they need to eliminate the above and allow the following:

1. Change the age range

2. Allow married women to compete

3. Allow women who have been divorced or widowed to compete

4. Allow women with criminal backgrounds to compete

5. Allow women with children (adopted or naturally born) to compete

6. Allow men to compete

7. Allow transgender men/women to compete

8. Remove the 6 month minimum requirement for a woman to live in an area to compete for that title

9. Remove boundaries for local contestants to compete anywhere throughout their state (or even remove boundaries altogether)

Issue #4: Talent being 50% alienates a massive group of potential contestants

Talent is, and always has been, what sets the Miss America Organization apart from all other systems, and the talent score has always been the highest percentage in the competition.

Before these changes, talent was a whopping 35% of our overall score, and now, it is going to be 50%. 50.

A 50% overall score would alienate MASSIVE amounts of contestants who love to perform and have a talent, but are not Julliard status and therefore would never win a title.

Miss America should not be a talent competition, if people wanted to compete in that, they would compete for So You Think You Can Dance or The Voice.

Miss America is supposed to be the face of well-rounded women who are smart, goal-oriented, servant-hearted, talented, kind, classy, and well-spoken.

A 50% talent score will not reflect all of that, but rather just the most talented people in the bunch.

Issue #5: A 50% talent score will hurt those who have non-traditional talents

If you want to be inclusive, you need to make it easier and more accessible for people who have non-traditional talents to be involved in this amazing organization. A 50% talent score will eliminate and alienate anyone with non-traditional talents : IE speed painters, gymnasts, monologue speakers, roller skaters, aerial fitness, etc., which is completely unfair and sad.

In my opinion, you don’t need to have the most amazing talent in the world to be a great Miss America and role model for young people.

Issue #6: Removing swimsuit with no fitness option to replace it

Fun fact: 25 states have an adult obesity rate of 35% or higher.

Health and fitness is crucial to implement in our lives, and especially important to encourage our youth to be involved and educated on healthy food and healthy lifestyle habits. By removing the swimsuit competition altogether and not replacing it with another fitness option was an inappropriate move and says “health doesn’t matter.”

Health does matter, especially if you want to be Miss State/Miss America. You are on the road for an entire year with little to no time to eat healthy and exercise, and if you don’t have health before you are crowned, you could struggle with body dysmorphia, depression, sickness, or exhaust.

If the leadership wanted to remove swimsuit that was fine, but we could have easily replaced it with a fitness routine like the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen contestants (I would desperately need to practice my pushups if this were implemented for Miss), fitness tests/exams, or even montages of us doing what makes us healthy and fit (IE rockclimbing, running, lifting weights, hiking, etc.)

Issue #7: “We are no longer going to judge on physical appearance”

Okay, y’all, this one just confused me…is the leadership board going to blindfold the judges and just give a description of what they are wearing? How does one not judge on physical appearance? It’s human nature!

If Miss America really wants to prepare the world for great women, they need to understand that the real world does indeed judge on physical appearance- especially in job interviews and in your career.

If you do not care about your physical appearance, you are only hurting yourself because unfortunately, the real world does care about your appearance. Companies care about how you present yourself if they want to hire you as their brand spokesperson just as much as they care about your experiences, skills, and background.

Issue #8: Miss America and its success relies very heavily on viewership and support, and these changes could be the death of the organization that we all love

Miss America relies on support, television viewers, sponsors, and conversation about the pageant and its contestants. These changes are going to negatively impact every single one of those lifelines.

Okay, this is the very sad, but honest, truth: non-pageant and pageant followers alike sit down every September to watch Miss America for the beautiful and smart women competing in swimsuit (usually with popcorn and ice cream and signing up for a gym), evening gown (to see the stunning dresses women choose), and for onstage question (to judge answers and applaud their intelligence).

Without swimsuit and adding in another interview/OSQ (onstage question) portion, the viewership is going to plummet.

This is me being brutally honest: If people wanted to watch talent, they would turn on The Voice or SYTYCD. If people wanted to listen to people discuss politics and serious matter for an hour on a given night they would turn on Fox and Friends.

Issue #9 and the most serious, important issue of them all: Gretchen Carlson dangerously aligning the swimsuit competition to the #MeToo movement is not only disgraceful, but embarrassing, derogatory, and hurtful.

1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted or raped. 1. in. 4.

I am part of that statistic. I was sexually assaulted wearing sweatpants. SWEATPANTS. Attire should never be aligned to sexual assault and rape. Never.

When I heard Gretchen align the swimsuit competition to the #MeToo movement I was so disturbed and hurt that I had to take an entire day to self-love and focus on my mental health.

Gretchen’s statement is the opposite of the #MeToo movement because it places blame on the women by saying that “you became sexualized because of what you were wearing.”

What a person is wearing should NEVER, ever, be aligned to sexual assault and rape and should never be used as an explanation to why sexual assault and rape happen.

To anyone who was hurt or experienced PTSD/flashbacks from what Ms. Carlson said: I’m sorry, and it is not your fault that someone took advantage of you. It was never your fault.

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If it were up to me, I would suggest the following changes to the Miss America Organization to create an even greater and bolder version of what 1.0 was (and if anyone out there knows how to get this blog post to those change-makers, let me know):

1. Interview should be 50% of a contestants overall score because Miss America (and state and local titleholders) spend their year speaking and engaging with countless numbers of people

2. Make scores and feedback from judges apparent and visible to help guide those who want to understand results and to prepare them for future greatness

3. Have judges that make sense: this could include former Miss America’s, former state titleholders/local titleholders, professional dancers/opera singers etc. For celebrity judges at Miss America, have judges that are professionals in fields that align with Miss America (this could be female policy makers, global humanitarians, professional dancers or singers like Julianne Hough or Celine Dion)

4. Make Miss America relevant by putting a strong focus on her platform work and her intelligence and who she is, especially if she becomes Miss America because no one knows Miss state/Miss America personal platforms because they aren’t able to promote it in the same way that they do as local titleholders

5. BRING BACK SWIMSUIT (or fitness of some sort, PLEASE)

Okay, if y’all have made it this far thank you.

Thank you for reading my thoughts and for being a part of this journey. Talking about these changes was not easy, and it was terrifying to press “publish,” but I knew I needed to voice my raw and unfiltered thoughts since so many others are feeling the exact same way.

I love this organization with everything that I have, and I pray that the right people can create a bolder, greater, and brighter organization because the success and future of this organization depends on it.

Work hard. Stay humble. Love well.

XO,

Stephanie

#missamerica