The Hypocrisy of Beauty Pageants

Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was competing to be Miss America, when a gay judge (why would a male gay be judging a woman's beauty pageant?) decided to politicize the contest by asking her if she supported gay marriage. Citing her faith as a Christian, the girl said, No. Perez Hilton, the gay judge, promptly gave her 0 points, causing her to lose the Miss America crown. He also wrote a profanity laden blog entry about her, apparently (I have not read it) criticizing her for daring to answer his question honestly. (Presumably, if she'd lied, but still been homophobic, he'd have voted for her, but because she refused to give her support on national TV, she must be excoriated.)

And then the deification of Carrie Prejean started, with Christian groups praising her for being so brave as to answer such a controversial question honestly. (Because,let's face it. People are not allowed to not be for gay marriage. At least, not to discuss it. They'll get shouted down by demonstrators if they try, much as those who try to explain why illegal immigration is illegal are shouted down.)

But how long will this deification carry on? It has now been revealed that Carrie Prejean, this Christian woman, posed for nude photos. She says she did it when she was 17. People who have seen them say she looks older than 17. But the pageant judges are all upset. Apparently there's some moral clause. If a beauty queen poses for nude photos, she can be stripped of her crown.

And this is just a joke!!!! Prejean has her hands covering her nipples, and is wearing panties. You see those kinds of photos every day in underwear advertisenments.

But more egregious than that is the fact that the beauty pageant people actually paid for this woman to get breast implants!!! Why? Why would they pay for her to get breast implants, and why did she need breast implants any, except for the fact that they wanted her to be more attractive to men, most of whom apparently like big breasted women?

So they want her to be attractive to men, but they don't want her to pose "suggestively." Jeesuz.

Don't get me wrong. I think it is a bit hypocritical for a Christian woman to get breast implants and pose practically nude (if she's got on panties,and is hiding her nipples, she's not really nude).

And I think it's disgusting that any woman will pose like that - for example I believe Kiera Knightly did so, and a few others - and then expect that any man will be able to look at them as other than a sex object again.

It's the same old double standard, though. Take beach volleyball. Guys get to dance around in knee-length bermuda shorts, women have to play in bikinis. Or track and field. If there was any advantage to be gained in wearing bikini bottoms, you know guys would do it. But they don't. The only reason for women to do it, therefore, is so that guys will tune in, or pack the stands, in order to get some eye candy.