Day Two Hundred and Fifty-Seven - Inner Beauty Contest

There is really nothing interesting or innovative that I can offer in terms of a critique of a beauty pageant, so I'm somewhat inclined to skip the commentary on this [okay, I called the contest the Whore Off - is that feminist enough?]. However, it just wouldn't be me if I weren't a little bit verbose. Tonight I watched the entire Miss Universe contest. Sadly, there was no representative from Neptune or anywhere that wasn't Earth. Clearly, there is a powerful pro-Milky Way lobby @ work here. True - I used to watch a lot of beauty pageants when I was little. I don't think this was damaging to me in any fashion as I never really aspired to that type of beauty [okay, yes I always wanted to be skinny and pretty - but that would have been regardless], but I did really enjoy judging people. It's a fine tradition I've carried with me through the rest of my life. I also enjoyed picking the winner - it was something that was always very transparent to me.

Well, even though I'm a bit rusty this year I spotted the winner immediately - though I was concerned that she seemed a bit too sexy [generally beauty pageant people look very wholesome/dull if not way too pretty]. As an added bonus Miss USA totally wiped out for the second year in a row - I think it's something they must be trained to do - very suspicious [if anyone can laugh @ people falling down it's me - I make frequent trips to the ground and I must laugh them off]. But overall, the whole show is just so very icky. And while the types of things it rewards are highly dubious ways to value people - I will say that the contestants are likely better role models than other young women in the public spotlight. While both Hollywood/the pop music industry and pageants both are insanely superficial...at least the beauty queens have to pretend to be nice and possibly actually do some good things [charity work, etc.] to get where they are. Famous girls are rewarded for any amount of bad things - it's like a badge of honour to have a DUI or to be caught out doing something nasty. However, both types are likely to lead to decreased self-esteem and body image issues so one is better off reading something inspiring instead [until you're as old as me and able to consume all the hot celeb gossip in the world and remain unaffected].