The Melissa King, Miss Teen USA, sex scandal brings to light something none of us are shocked by: there are a lot of beauty queen sex scandals. Here is where I stand on the subject, if the competition clearly outlines that engaging in “wanton” or “lascivious” behavior is against the rules then the winners who break those rueles should be dethroned. A contest does have the right to determine its own guidelines. However, it’s evident that these rules are largely hypocritical. A pageant based on the premise of beauty and vanity, of sexualizing women (yes, they volunteer and I am not here to slut shame) and notoriously making them look questionably stupid by asking them political questions of which they have no real opinions, should not be so against these nude photos or sex scandals, even.
Why have them parade around in bikinis if exposing the body is such a terrible thing? Why publicly humiliate these women by quizzing them on foreign policy? Because the intention is to highlight that women should be beautiful, that they should parade themselves around in swimsuits but they should not be smart. All of these pageants slut shame their winners as soon as the contestants decide to do exactly what the contest is premised upon: capitalizing on their physical beauty as a career path. Change the rules. Porn Stars for Pageantry – let’s start a slutty revolution.