Something Positive: Miss America

Now, I'm not a huge fan of beauty pageants in general. The swimsuit portion alone is enough to make me gag. Overall, I have a problem with giving women scholarships just for being pretty and feminine. But I have noticed one thing about the Miss America pageant that I actually like:

The question portion has become political.

No more "what's your favorite book?" stuff, no more vague questions that can be easily answered with "world peace" or "help feed the starving orphans." This year's questions focused on specific political issues, and were actually a little tough to answer. Our new Miss America came out in support of medicinal marijuana, and didn't outright oppose recreational use - she said she didn't know whether she supported it because it is addictive and causes problems for some families, which is fair enough, but the fact is she did not say something blatantly anti-drug. Last year's Miss America said birth control should be free and available to all women. I've been happy to see that at least one part of the pageant makes women use their brains rather than just their tits and smiles to win over the judges.

Of course, I would probably get really pissed off if, in the future, they crown a girl who rails against gay marriage or abortion. But in the past two years they've crowned women who have expressed liberal sentiments, and that's saying something. I'm also glad that, in the past, the question portion has helped to expose and draw negative attention to the ignorant, and often downright moronic answers some of the girls have given, which shows that we do, in fact, want a Miss America with a brain as well as beauty. Now if only her intellect was more important than her appearance.

Relevation: A Short, Personal Story

Last night I went to a fancy event. Well, it wasn't that fancy, but it was at a fancy place and I tend to relish every excuse to get gussied up, so there you have it. Knowing the weather was going to suck, and we were walking, I decided to sweep my hair back in a neat bun - something that could withstand wind and rain. After a few attempts and finally achieving a hairdo I was happy with (the bun was still crooked but the hell with it, I'd given up), I realized that my face looked especially elongated. Having read tons of magazines during my adolescent years, I'd seen several articles about the best hairstyles and cuts for one's facial shape - each one was meant to make your face look closer to the "ideal" face shape. Girls with oval faces were constantly told to wear their hair in ways that would make their faces look rounder. And there I was, not wearing one of those styles, and while I still looked amazing, my face was as long as ever.

And I didn't give a fuck.

Seriously, what does it matter what shape my face was? Why was an oval face less pretty than a round face or a heart-shaped face? Does beauty really only come in one shape? I looked bangin' overall, so did my face shape make all that irrelevant? Bullshit, of course it didn't. Real beauty comes in different shapes and sizes, there can't be one ideal that excludes tons of women just because they weren't "made right."