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Abstract

This qualitative study explores pageant contestants’ views on feminism. A total of twelve state titleholders, aged 22-29, from the 2020 Miss USA Competition were interviewed about their motivations for participating, their own views on feminism, and their opinions about whether beauty pageants align with feminist ideals. The initial analysis of the interview transcripts revealed sixteen coding categories. A secondary analysis of these coding categories identified three overarching themes: “Pageants are Empowering,” “Swimsuit is Complicated,” and “Pageantry Has Evolved.” This study revealed that participants had many reasons for entering pageants, the least common of which related to beauty. Most felt pageantry supported feminist ideals and personally identified themselves as a feminist, yet all had experienced being told by outsiders that their participation was anti-feminist and that they were not feminists. Much of the outside criticism centered on the swimsuit competition; however, most of the titleholders found the swimsuit portion to be empowering. Participants also felt pageants had evolved and they did not see the term “beauty pageant” as an appropriate descriptor. Implications for the study’s findings are discussed, including ways in which pageants might better support feminist ideals.

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