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Miss USA Gone Wild


Once upon a time, the “only” skin  beauty pageant contestants had to show was during the swimsuit competition. I put “only” in quotes, of course, because these days, those bikinis have gotten pretty teeny and there’s plenty of flesh on display.

tiara.JPGBut apparently that’s not enough sex appeal for the average pageant watcher. Just a year after Carrie Prejean came under fire (and eventually lost her Miss California crown) for racy and topless pictures that leaked online, the Miss USA pageant has decided to add a lingerie segment to the competition. Specifically, each contestant has to pose for photos in a hotel room wearing skimpy underwear and sporting sultry, suggestive expressions. A couple of contestants even opted to go with braless outfits, wearing only open shirts and panties.

The resulting images look like they’d be more at home in a Victoria’s Secret catalog than in a beauty pageant.

Pageant owner Donald Trump has been unapologetic. “Whether we like it or not, beautiful women will always attract ratings,” he said. Trump also recognizes that the images push the envelope, but in the end he thinks they’re acceptable for broadcast television (the pageant will air May 16 on NBC). “I think they’ve maybe gone a little over the top this year,” he said. “These pictures are a little wild. [But] the girls are incredible. … They go about as far as you can go on network television, which is pretty far.”

Keith Lewis, director of the Miss California pageant, added that the winner of the Miss USA competition goes on to compete in the international Miss Universe pageant. And standards on the global stage are less conservative than those in the United States, he said. “Miss USA is a feeder contest for Miss Universe where we go off and compete against Miss Venezuela and Miss France, countries that are progressive in their fashions and acceptance of sexier looks.”

Miss USA spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton is equally matter-of-fact in defending the lingerie photos. “We are in the business of beauty and the contestants who compete for the title of Miss USA are not afraid to be sexy. These ladies are the full packages—smart, accomplished, relevant and sexy. That said, I think these photos definitely break the stereotype of what a ‘pageant girl’ looks like.”

Not everyone, however, is buying the lie that “beauty” and “sexy” should be synonymous. “As a mom of a 13-year-old daughter, I worry about the fact that these young women are held up in front of our young girls as symbols to be emulated, and it’s certainly a concern for American moms,” said Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women of America.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, put his concerns more bluntly: “There has been growing debate over the line between a beauty pageant and soft-core pornography,” he said. “And I think this year’s pageant not only erases that line, it obliterates it.”