![year 2001 junior miss pageant year 2001 junior miss pageant](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/91/5b/d5/915bd5a2c9db9b119c9f30a5c098fffb--young-women-junior.jpg)
(The girl who won had been in this pageant three times before.) And third, that if you don't have the right dress, you don't stand a chance.
#Year 2001 junior miss pageant skin#
(Pour it on the skin let it almost dry get dressed.) Second, that winners are groomed, not born. I learned three things from my first pageant: First, that 7UP is how contestants keep their bathing suits (in adult pageants) in place. Contestants know this, and they can be brutal to one another, even as they share the performance-quality hairspray that's supposed to hold your "do" in an 80-m.p.h. Either you have the "winning look," or you don't. Once you're labeled, there's no going back. That's when you know which girls you belong with: the really polished, savvy ones, the girl-next-door types, or the shy, awkward flowers. Only a farewell breakfast takes place on Sunday morning.īut in reality, the contest is over by Saturday morning. You arrive Friday night, rehearse Saturday, and put on the big show Saturday night. Teen pageants are usually a weekend affair. Officials noted our every move, what we wore, which clique we fit in with. And we certainly didn't know that the competition had already begun. When we contestants arrived, most of us didn't realize how closely the pageant officials were watching us as they checked us in. My first pageant was Miss United Teenager, held in central New Hampshire, a 2-1/2-hour drive from our house. This concept becomes clear the moment you enter the pageant world. It says that if you have the best body and the best smile, then you have a right to feel good about yourself. This lie turns the whole notion of independence upside down.
![year 2001 junior miss pageant year 2001 junior miss pageant](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/on8AAOSwzqBckCV0/s-l300.jpg)
Most women saw through that one years ago, but the myth the pageants sell still has many of us by our pretty little throats: Win the crown, and you'll win a satisfying life. The first one, of course, is that happily-ever-after comes from finding Mr. Pageants promote what I'd call the other fractured fairy tale for women. And no matter how hard the pageants try to be "scholarship programs" or "opportunities for growth and self-confidence," there is still a dark underside. The title "beauty contestant" still carries certain bimbo connotations.
#Year 2001 junior miss pageant professional#
It's not something a well-educated, professional woman wants on her résumé. "They look so much older than we did," I'll think, remembering my own teen pageant days. I'll sneak a peek, and mutter to myself that the contestants appear to be 16 going on 30. When the Miss Teen USA pageant airs tomorrow night, I'll probably do what I do every year.