Can There Be An 'Us' in Miss USA?

Pageants are notorious for their ability to seemlessly transport viewers back to the days when women were seen and not heard with the mere flip of a channel. As such, they have always been one of my guiltiest guilty pleasures. Every year when Miss USA rolls around, I feel as if I've stepped into a time machine. Back to the days before women complicated things with their calls for equality and cries to be taken seriously. Last night was no different.

There are always the issues of body image as the women parade around the stage in evening gowns and swimwear to be judged by a panel of 'experts' and pseudo-celebrities on some arbitrary scale of beauty or poise or something like that. The fifteen semi-finalists are slated as the perfect examples of how women should look (tall, thin, white, young, blond), smile (even when your not happy), walk (not with purpose, but when and where they tell you to),and talk (as little as possible). One is selected to 'represent' America, easily the most problematic aspect of the entire process.

The 58th Annual Miss USA Pageant had all of that and more, but the most talked about moment by a mile occurred during the question and answer portion of the show:

In YouTube's most watched clip of the day, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton asks Miss California Carrie Prejean about her thoughts on the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Vermont and the possible extension of the law elsewhere. The unpopular answer that Prejean claims lost her the title illuminates a greater issue about the pageant industry, in general: What about all of the 'Misses' and 'Misters' that this narrow depiction of womanhood misses?

Hilton addressed what he called the answer's 'alienation' of many viewers after the show:

While I disagree with Prejean's answer, issue must be taken not with her specific response, but with the whole idea that some constructed 'ideal American woman' can or has at any point existed unproblematically. I'm a bit surprised by the shocked response from bloggers and various media sources. The issue of alienation can't have been ignored up this point. The entire process is inherently classist (It costs thousands to even begin to 'compete'). While Perez Hilton's question displays a slight mainstream disruption of the 'Miss USA' title as some type of accurate representation of 'American' beliefs, viewers must remember those that do not have a celebrity blogger to ask a controversial question.