Just recently, I read an article by ocean10kv about little girls in beauty pageants. At first, I thought she was going to open up to readers about being a pageant queen herself. But to my utter shock it was revealed that she agrees with many others. Pageants were stereotyped and narrowed pageants down to fake tans and competitive mothers.
Today, I am here to say enough is enough! I am sick and tired of everything I have to put up with you people out there who don't think pageanteers are anything but glitz and glamor.
Today I am admitting to Whyville that I am a pageant queen and I am proud to be one.
Those of you who even hear the word "pageant" and think immediately of a little girl wearing a fake smile and caked on makeup completely disregard any thought whatsoever that any of these girls have a brain in their body. As a straight 'A' student, and member of the school honor role since fourth grade, a member of the soccer and basketball team, a former Junior Miss Old Settlers and Top 20 Semifinalist in the National American Miss Ohio Pre-Teen Pageant, I am here to tell you that everything you ever thought about pageants is nothing more than stereotype brought on by movies like the aforementioned Little Miss Sunshine, and TV shows like "Toddlers in Tiaras".
Although I am here to say that people have wrongly stereotyped girls like me for years, I will admit that there are those kinds of pageants out there. But I also would like to point out that they are not the only pageants out there.
As a faithful participant in the National American Miss Pageant, I can tell you honestly that from age groups of ages from 5-12 are NOT allowed to wear any makeup during competitions. Under the FAQ's, one of the questions asked about if NAMiss was a typical beauty pageant. Their answer? No. None of the scoring is based on beauty in any way whatsoever. In fact, in place of where most pageants score on beauty, they score on community involvement.
Gasp! So the rumors are true. Pageant queens really DO help out within the community!
Yes, we do. It counts for 10% of our score. There is also a competition for Volunteer Service. Girls can log hours of community service that they have served without receiving pay and if they log the most, they win a trophy. In some higher age competitions, girls can also win awards for Academic Achievement. And every year, there is always a runner up and a winner.
In a nutshell, I am very angry over how we pageant queens have been treated over the years. This latest article pushed me over the edge. We girls have been wrongly accused of being fake, phony, and brainless for years, and we're not gonna take it anymore.
So the next time you're thinking of pageants, don't think of the picture in ocean10kv's article. Instead, think of this girl:
