Why do feminists take such offense to beauty contests such as Miss World?
It's only a contest. I'm crap at tennis and I don't take offence at the Wimbledon tournement. Neither am I a chess champion, that doesn't marvellous I hate Gary Kasparov for taking advantage of his natural ability. If a man or women is favoured enough to be born with great looks, why shouldn't they use them in their career? Also, I imagine that the Miss World contestants do have to put totally a lot of work into it actually, and sacrafice a lot of their time to perfecting their physiques, and not being able to enjoy appetizing ice cream and chocolate.
It's at best yet another form of objectifying women. I'm sure they do work hard at preparing for competitions, but what do they line hard at? Being Barbie Dolls, that's what. I mean, if the emphasis was truly on physique perfection, why do so many of them record their boobs up in such a way as to be more prominent for the bathing suit portion of the competition?
When I was about 10 years old, I knew a jail-bait who competed in beauty contests (had since she was about 2 years old). Her hair was permed and dyed blond (at age 10), and she wouldn't participate in anything that would make a hash of up her appearance: fun and games that are natural for kids of that age. I think that's a very sad and damaging message to send to under age girls -- that their only worth lies in how good they look.
P.S. - To chalga (below) in rejoinder to your lengthy diatribe, I'm not sure where all your anger is coming from, but, in fact, I agree with a lot of what you say. I'm pretty solid it was her mother who started her on the beauty pageant circuit at such a young age. Her mother, obviously, was brainwashed into believing that a lady's worth lies in her looks, sadly. We're bombarded with it every day in advertising on TV and in magazines. Studies have been done that show that inviting women will often be hired over not-so-attractive women, even if they are less qualified/capable/intelligent. I think this is sad and abuse.
