Historical Context
The concept of beauty pageants have been around since 1854 when P.T Barnum, known as the world’s greatest showmen” and owner of a dime museum attempted to construct a beauty contest but failed to do so because of women protesting against publicizing beauty. The fact that women began to protest against his idea demonstrated social movement because many thought it was wrong to construct contests based on judging one’s beauty. As a result, he instead launched a picture-based beauty contest in his museum which was considered a “respectable way” for girls and women to have their beauty judged. The way he developed this idea was by displaying these photographs in his museum and the public would vote on the best ones. By the early decades of the twentieth century, people’s attitudes about beauty contests had begun to change. Prohibitions against the display of women in public began to minimize, though not to disappear fully. One of the earliest known beauty pageants had been held in 1880, at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. However, it was until the twentieth century that beach resorts began to hold regular beauty pageants as entertainment for the rapidly growing middle class. In 1921, in an effort to have tourists stay for a longer visit past Labor Day, Atlantic City organizers staged the first Miss America Pageant in September. Emphasizing that the contestants were both youthful and beautiful, the Miss America Pageant brought together issues of democracy and class, art and commerce, gender and sex and started a tradition that would grow throughout centuries.
The concept of beauty pageants have been around since 1854 when P.T Barnum, known as the world’s greatest showmen” and owner of a dime museum attempted to construct a beauty contest but failed to do so because of women protesting against publicizing beauty. The fact that women began to protest against his idea demonstrated social movement because many thought it was wrong to construct contests based on judging one’s beauty. As a result, he instead launched a picture-based beauty contest in his museum which was considered a “respectable way” for girls and women to have their beauty judged. The way he developed this idea was by displaying these photographs in his museum and the public would vote on the best ones. By the early decades of the twentieth century, people’s attitudes about beauty contests had begun to change. Prohibitions against the display of women in public began to minimize, though not to disappear fully. One of the earliest known beauty pageants had been held in 1880, at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. However, it was until the twentieth century that beach resorts began to hold regular beauty pageants as entertainment for the rapidly growing middle class. In 1921, in an effort to have tourists stay for a longer visit past Labor Day, Atlantic City organizers staged the first Miss America Pageant in September. Emphasizing that the contestants were both youthful and beautiful, the Miss America Pageant brought together issues of democracy and class, art and commerce, gender and sex and started a tradition that would grow throughout centuries.