This year, America’s most popular beauty pageant celebrates its 100th anniversary. Due to ever changing attitudes and codes of morality, many people thought beauty pageants would eventually go away. While admitting that beauty pageants objectify women because they were first invented in 1921 by male businessmen to use women’s bodies to entice a crowd to stay longer in Atlantic City so that businesses could make more money, the author brings up the argument that they have helped bring women into the public sphere, helped them become leaders in business and politics and given them a path to higher education. Besides giving a background on beauty pageants, Hilary Levey Friedman provides historical tidbits including how Barbie came out in the 1950s, not coincidentally at the height of beauty pageants and how Girl Scouts, and beauty pageants, use sashes influenced by early suffragettes. Highlights include the idea that there are different pageants for different groups and ethnicities because when people feel excluded from pageants, they will make their own: pageants exist for Blacks, Asians, Latinas, Natives, disabled, petites, full figured women, seniors, etc. and that for the most part, conservative femininity is the dominant trait of pageants – they insist on a purity trait. The language is down to earth, making this an easy to read and hard to put down insight into pageants. “Here She Is” is not a how-to guide for becoming a pageant queen, nor is it a salacious behind-the-scenes look at beauty pageants. It is an impressively in-depth look at the positive and negative aspects of beauty pageants and is recommended for readers who want to learn about the historical background of pageants, including its controversies and dark past.

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was prepared to review this book with a higher rating, until I read a review by Nicole Kelly, Miss Iowa 2013. In her review she mentions that Ms. Friedman gets easily fact-checked points wrong (for example, that Ms. Kelly was Miss Iowa in 2013) as well as facts about other pageant contestants' disabilities.

But Ms. Kelly was able to word a concern that I felt while reading - one that only a person with an invisible (or even a visible) disability, like me, could possibly understand - Ms. Friedman writes about the disabled community from a tentative distance. She does not seem to care about understanding the disability community, nor does she put any effort into learning about different disabilities. How is it possible for her to write about "the expectations that they put on women in society and discuss Miss America's controversial ableist history" when she herself isn't willing to examine her own issues with disability and the disabled community?

While it’s easy for lots of people to turn up their noses at pageants, this history was enlightening. The author pointed out so much influence and reflection between pageants and the social and cultural evolution of the United States.

One thing that was obvious throughout this book was the staggering amount of research that was compiled in it. Pageants have continually reflected society and its values. Whether it was through what contestants were expected to wear, how they were expected to behave, or showing the contestants and spectators what was perceived as the most important features of those on stage. Whether the pageants were showcasing babies (and the mothers carrying them), women of many age groups, or members of different cultures celebrating what made them similar, pageants gave them all a way to take pride in their identity.

While there are many judgments about those participating in pageants (or those in charge of that decision for younger contestants), the author also explored the varied reasons contestants worked so hard to participate and potentially win their chosen pageants. Sometimes it was a tradition for the region they were from or the family they identified with, sometimes it was actually for the prizes, or even something as simple as bragging rights or the experience of participating.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Unlike some non-fiction books, this was entertainingly told across the timeline of pageants in the US, while also exploring different types of pageants and different participants. It was also interesting to see the different paths that pageant contestants seemed more prepared for after their participation, like very visible jobs in entertainment, broadcast journalism, or politics. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in what pageants are really about, and how they have changed over time, just like the societies they reflect.

I have always been interested in pageants. I remember sitting on the couch and watching them each year, trying to guess who would win and hoping Miss Iowa would make it into the finals. A friend of mine was Miss Teen Iowa and I was a participant in the Miss Teen of Iowa pageant. It was a big deal and even had my dress made, reminiscent of Cinderella’s dress, but in peach. Oh, the memories!

Hilary Levey Friedman is the daughter of Miss America 1970 and has done extensive research on the history of pageants and how the pageant culture has continued to influence many contests and shows today including “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”. Friedman covers the beginnings of pageants and how they were used to entice businessmen to stay in Atlantic City. She also shares the first beautiful baby contests and how they led to the “Toddlers and Tiaras” types of pageants that were part of the Jon-Benét Ramsey childhood. The controversy behind Miss America versus Miss USA and how they became two separate pageants as well as their eventual move to live TV to garner more excitement was an interesting part of the story as well.

I was surprised by the stereotypes that took place in the pageant world. Until 1994, contestants’ height and weight were displayed in the programs as well as just seven years prior, their waist, hip, and bust measurements. This was about the time that the pageants took on more of a talent competition and contestants had a platform, an issue close to their heart like juvenile diabetes or veteran’s affairs.

There were many controversies tied to the Miss America or Miss USA pageants including Vanessa Williams giving up her crown and Mike Tyson being accused of raping a contestant of the Miss Black America pageant. Of course, child pageants were under scrutiny after the murder of Jon-Benét Ramsey and then, these pageants exploded onto the TV screen and gained, it seemed even more popularity. Friedman states:

“Some families went into debt and even bankruptcy because of their child beauty pageant addiction. One pageant mom told me, ‘There are parents down here that are losing their trailers over pageants.’ That the home was a trailer further highlighted the precarious financial position of the family.”
Hilary Levey Friedman

Even though the pageant I was a part of in 1990 was very small, I remember noticing right away when I arrived that I was likely out of my league. This was my first and only pageant and there were girls there that had done several, touring the pageant circuit to gain college scholarships. I learned a lot and appreciated the experience and have fond memories of the friendships I made. I remember my nervousness at the interviews and walking across the stage. My personal experience and reading this book have given me a new perspective on the hard work candidates take on to compete. I look forward to watching the next pageant aired on TV with new insights and knowledge. However, many have been canceled or postponed due to the pandemic, so it’s unsure when they will resume as states will also have to hold their individual pageants first. I did see on the news that the Miss Iowa pageant was held last weekend.

Photos of pageants past are included and show a historical evolution of gowns and crowns. Those readers who like historical narratives, beauty pageants, and feminist history will find this book interesting.

Had trouble going through this one. It reads very pedantic while at the same time so broad-stroked, it leaves you wondering what the point really was...and it is tiring to read page after page of this kind of passive-aggressive type of language, let alone a whole book. The angle/slant also read biased and not entirely objective, with elements a few pages apart tending to contradict the other, which leaves one to wonder what the author wanted to say, and whether or not a competent editor actually went in for developmental edits in this rather than (still pretty bad) copy edits.

Overall: 3.5-stars

I am glad that I decided to read Here She Is. I’m not usually one for history books/analysis. But, detailing America’s pageant history in parallel to the women’s rights movement demonstrates how feminism can include many different types of activities that share the same goal: empowering women and fighting for gender equality.

The author, Friedman, does an excellent job of chronicling the first two waves of feminism and centring pageantry within these two big pushes for women’s equality. Friedman demonstrates how mothers carrying their babies on-stage in ‘best baby’ competitions in the late 1800s was the start of women’s bodies being accepted into the public sphere.

Increasing women’s visibility in public and stating that women have a right to choose what happens in public life was a significant portion of first-wave feminism. First-wave feminism is recognized as the suffragist movement–women fighting for the right to vote.

The mid-1900s brought second-wave feminism, which sought to demonstrate how "the personal is political." The main concern was that the ideal woman was still thought of as strictly a housewife and child-minder. Second-wave feminists were also frustrated with the objectifying and sexist beauty standards imposed on women. These second-wave feminists’ concerns converged with pageantry during the Miss America 1968 protest, where the New York Radical Women (feminist) group symbolically “burned” their bras as a rejection of painful societal requirements of women. Ironically, Here She Is factually demonstrates how ‘bra burners’ is a misnomer: the New York Radical Women burned no bras.

Herstory
her•sto•ry /ˈhərstərē/
(noun)
history viewed from a female or specifically feminist perspective.
Definition from Oxford Languages

I was introduced to the word ‘herstory’ in Here She Is and was incredibly intrigued by how recounts of history change as historians centre women’s voices and experiences. I loved when Friedman delved into specific women’s personal history (and experiences) within this book. I found these stories a nice break from the dense history.

My understanding of pageants has been strictly relegated to popular culture representations, like Toddlers & Tiaras (I watched one–theatrical–episode) and the Netflix film, Dumplin‘ (based on the book: see here).

Friedman is upfront in admitting that some of the pageant stereotypes are true: it is a competition principally judged on appearances, and the culture around it can be toxic. But most of these stereotypes are more accurate for child pageantry.

What’s most surprising is that most Miss America winners have had dark hair and, in recent years, brown eyes (contradicting the stereotype of blonde Southern Belles). Another stereotype is that pageantry is a South-dominant preoccupation. While historically Texas does lead in participants, California is a close second.

With her detailed herstory corroborated by interviews she conducted, Friedman convincingly debunks the stereotypes and lousy rep that pageantry has. Friedman even demonstrates how there is no correlation between pageant contestants and an increased disposition to eating disorders. Friedman also reaffirmed how the main reason contestants still do pageants is for the scholarship money–something that I was only vaguely aware was linked to pageant winners. Even at the state and county levels, the scholarships available can be enough to fund a year of university education. Winners and resulting runner-ups can win scholarships that fund the entirety of an undergraduate degree.

Comparing the herstory of pageantry to the women’s rights movement doesn't show the complete picture as feminist organizations at the time were comprised of white, non-disabled and upper-middle-class women. Importantly, Friedman acknowledges that pageantry in the US centres white women.

By acknowledging the racist history of both aspects of Friedman’s analysis of herstory (American beauty pageants and mainstream feminism), she brings in how minority groups created their pageants. Pageants centring minority identities allowed women of colour to centre traits that were being discriminated against in mainstream pageants (and ignored by White feminism). Some pageants that sprung up in the 60s include Miss Black USA, and others started later on, including Miss Deaf America.

While mainstream pageantry has slowly become more racially and ethnically diverse over the ~100 years, there is still one area that has not changed in recent years: contestants’ size. Friedman makes sure to point out that while the average woman (nowadays) has been getting a bit bigger, pageant contestants (and winners) have been getting even smaller.

Pageantry and Feminism
Friedman includes commentary from her students stating pageant contestants (including child pageant contestants) shouldn’t be critiqued for their decision to take part in pageantry. As Friedman demonstrates, pageantry is an (n expensive yet) fun way of playing dress-up for most children. Although, she does admit to having met a few families who do child pageantry for the money. By centring the ‘harmless fun’ and ‘pursuing education’ narratives (both of which are true and corroborated by research), it was easier to understand why girls continue to be contestants in something that is seen as objectifying of women to outsiders.

I agree, though, that any pageantry critique should mainly focus on the American culture that idealizes a specific image of American beauty. I also think that pageant contestants, especially for Miss America, are historically very well educated, smart and conscientious girls. Still, none would have qualified if they first didn’t pass the pretty enough test in the qualifying rounds. Friedman frequently states how the Miss America pageant strongly supports and prioritizes girls' education. Education is an important element to pageants, but the principal focus is its contestants’ perceived beauty. Successful contestants have to be conventionally beautiful (with ‘conventional’ broadening its definition in some ways over the years). I think this is a point that gets a bit lost throughout the rest of Friedman’s analysis.

Though, my largest complaint was discovering Friedman is a believer in there being only three waves of feminism and not four. Traditionally, in International Relations academia, feminism is thought to be broken into the following four waves:

First Wave – Suffragist Movement (Getting the vote)
Second Wave – Personal is Political: focuses on equality and discrimination (in the workplace)
Third Wave – Identity Politics (How a person’s identities–race, gender, sex, ethnicity, religion and more–can compound the discrimination they face
Fourth Wave – Empowerment of women and centring of intersectionality

Looking at the pay gap, rape culture, sexual harassment, #MeToo and the use of social media in this fight
Friedman argued identity politics, what I call third-wave feminism above, is part 2 to the second-wave. I understand that for the ease of her research, allocating 50 years into three waves allowed for her book’s “clean” linear organization.

However, I take issues with suggesting identity politics is a tagalong to second-wave feminism. Especially when third-wave feminism (identity politics) erupted as a critique on second-wave feminism: that it focused only on white, heterosexual, able, middle-class (and upward) women.

Third-wave feminism, as I define identity politics, is also when the voices of Black and Indigenous women and women of Colour started to become centred. Taking away the autonomy of their critique and adding it to the end of a white-centred feminism wave misunderstands the critiques of third-wave feminism.

Pageantry’s Relationship with U.S. Politics
Most of the book details the herstory of pageantry and, as a result, spends a significant amount of its pages discussing pageantry from 1840 to the late 1990s. As a result, it can feel a bit dense if you don’t naturally like reading history.

Friedman ties pageantry into the politics of women’s rights through this period. However, the last chapter discusses President Trump and his relationship to the pageant world, making for the most page-turning read of Here She Is. It tied pageantry to contemporary US politics.

Friedman interweaves the #MeToo movement into Trump’s history with his ownership of Miss Universe. Interestingly, Friedman draws on content from a past pageant contestant memoir who is now a MAGA Trump supporter. But recount from her book–and others–shows the insidiously objectifying and sexist culture the contestants were exposed to under Trump’s ownership.

In Conclusion
I learned so much about beauty pageants in America. The most important takeaway was how the representation of beauty pageants in the media (and popular culture) is the most dramatic and worst part of pageantry.

Friedman resoundingly demonstrates how pageants started as a way for women to take pride in their bodies. Pageants have also been reclaimed as a way for minorities to highlight and celebrate their identities which mainstream pageants have, historically, excluded. However, Friedman states that lesbians are the few women who are still widely excluded from beauty pageants (they’re even excluded in pageants created to celebrate minority identities).

My last critique of Here She Is is that while Friedman was convincing in demonstrating how pageantry has been used to uplift women in the public sphere, I would’ve liked the author’s opinion on pageantry to have been discussed. In her introduction and throughout her novel, Friedman comments that she loved watching pageants as a kid with her mom. But, I’d be interested to know how she thinks pageantry fits within today’s world, especially within the 21st-century feminist movement.

Here She Is is a reminder to self-described feminists that part of the feminist fight is that women have the choice to do whatever they want, even if that means becoming a beauty queen.

I have to admit that I have never watched nor participated in a pageant. I don’t think I have ever seen them here in Ontario (or perhaps I have just never looked) nor have I watched the Miss America or Miss Universe on television. I am not sure why they have never appealed to me, but as I read through Here She Is, it dawned on me that perhaps I felt that they were the opposite of feminism (especially the bathing suit competitions) and that I was bias against pageants based on my own assumptions, but this book made me see pageants from a new perspective.

Hilary explores the history of pageants from their unique beginnings to their current model and how they have evolved. She has matched each phase of the pageants to each feminist movement and shown how each are related. We watch as woman are empowered to take a step out in public, to be proud of their bodies and to not feel the need to hide who they are, their bodies and their role in society (and how different this is in each time period). We are shown how pageants evolved and what was considered to be allowed (how much skin could be shown, weight/body size, marital status, etc..). We are exposed to the good and the bad in this book, Hilary touches on all topics and explains them thoroughly.

What I found really interesting was how the idea of pageants can be seen in many other aspects of daily life – our obsession with some reality shows like the Bachelor. I would never have made that connection before without reading this novel. I also loved how she highlighted a key point in this book – education. So many contestants use pageants to fund their education, receiving degrees in a variety of fields. These are well educated young women who are prepared to take on some of the toughest roles in our workforce.

Here She Is opened my eyes to some of my own unconscious bias against pageants and helped me to understand the important role that they have played in empowering women throughout history. It was a great, eye opening read that I truly appreciated.

When you first consider beauty pageants, you may think they're an outdated pastime...but this amazing author has written this book peeling back the layers on pageants, and revealing the ways that pageants have been empowering feminist tradition through the years...especially in the age of #MeToo.⁣

The author, currently serving as a N.O.W. state president & the daughter of Miss America 1970, looks at how pageantry has morphed into pop culture... ranging from The Bachelor to RuPaul’s Drag Race while also acknowledging the damaging and unrealistic expectations pageants place on women in society. The book discusses the controversies, including Miss America’s ableist and racist history, Trump’s ownership of the Miss Universe Org., and the death of child pageant-winner JonBenét Ramsey. This book is full of sooo much great information, and it was recommended in Ms. Magazine for book titles that "Envision a More Just & Inclusive Future".⁣
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Who knew that there could be such an in depth sociological research study inside beauty pageants? This book deserves the crown!

I want to read more books that deal with female/feminist topics and Here She Is seemed as good a place to start as any.

Despite the author being the daughter of a former Miss America and a fan of pageants, she has written a well-rounded analysis of pageant history based on fact and not opinion. For a reader like me, who has only ever viewed pageants in a stereotypical way, it was wonderful to learn more about them in an unbiased manner. It was interesting to see where some elements of pageantry originated (suffragettes and the sash) and how pageants progressed over the years and formed the foundation for other aspects of entertainment today (think reality TV and The Bachelor).

Reading Here She Is presented many familiar faces I didn’t know to be associated with pageants: Oprah Winfrey, Gretchen Carlson, P.T. Barnum. It really was very interesting to see how other aspects of history and culture were connected to pageants. It was also really great to get a more in-depth view of the people who enter pageants. The stereotype of “blonde bimbos” is wrong. Many of the women who enter are very well-educated, well-spoken, and go on to make impactful changes in society. Plus, many enter solely for the purpose of winning a scholarship so they can ensure they get the education they desire.

One thing that was missing was how participating in pageants has changed thanks to the advancement of social media. Maybe it hasn’t made an impact but there was a part of me expecting it to be there.

If you grew up watching the Miss America pageant, or even the Miss USA pageant, then this book might be of interest to you. The book is chock full of history about how the pageants came to be, their predecessors, and what has been achieved through the decades to improve the pageant and the women that participated. The pageant world is not without scandal or the whims of what men wanted or expected from such shows. But, as with most everything else, the pageants have improved and are not simply a beauty contest. They focus on real-world issues and the women have had to move along with the times to improve themselves and the society around them.

I vaguely recall the small town that I attended for high school having a pageant. I don't know if the winner actually went on to compete in Miss Texas or not and since I know a past winner, I should ask her if she competed. I remember the fancy gowns and the talent portion from my attendance at the event and even though I was the same age as these women, I had no desire to be a part of this world. That didn't stop me from enjoying watching it on television growing up, trying to guess who might be chosen, and being amazed at the talents these women possessed.

The author did a wonderful job of researching the book. There are many notations for where the information was gathered and you could spend hours just looking up the articles and other information. There are a few spots with incorrect information, some I noticed and others I learned from other reviews, but overall I thought the history was intriguing and never would have guessed that P.T Barnum had beauty contests as part of his show.

The book is not fast-paced due to the amount of information presented within its covers. But the look into feminism and how it got its start, women seeking something better, and even the #MeToo movement references are mind-boggling. I enjoyed all of the stories and how this all played into our history.

Overall we give this 3 1/2 paws and if you were ever in a pageant or just curious how it has progressed to what we have today, then this book will definitely fill in the gaps.

At first glance, Here She Is doesn’t sound like something I would read or request from NetGalley, given that it’s about the history of the beauty pagent, something that I’ve not been involved in nor follow. But, I do like reading about histories of obscure subjects, I was intrigued by the idea of using a feministic lens while reviewing the history, and I remember enjoying Miss Congeniality. So here we are.

The book does what it promises to do – look at the history of beauty pageants and how they intersect with feminism. In short, Friedman argues that the first pageants (which were for children rather than women) helped women to appear in the public sphere in a respectable way, coinciding with the right to vote. As time goes by, pageants continue to play a role in shaping the role of women in the public eye (and through the scholarship and social platform components, to promote certain ideas). At the same time, pageants have a complicated relationship with feminism, which I think can be summed up in the question: are they empowering or are they objectifying?

Since I didn’t know much about the topic, I learnt quite a bit and revised my view on the use of pageants, mostly in the time where women had very limited spaces to appear and how this might be used for them to gain scholarships or launch a platform. That said, the very academic tone of the book means that it’s not the most accessible work.

From what I can tell, the author has done a lot of research in looking through old pageant books to establish trends and interviewing people who are involved in the pageant world; I particularly enjoyed the section where she interviews women who were involved in pageants as children and how they had very different experiences and attitudes towards child pageants. However, I did see this review by Nicole Kelly (who was mentioned briefly in the book) with regards to inaccuracies in the chapter on intersectionality and pageants, so while I trust the general narrative of the book, I’m not as sure about the details.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The subject matter was new to me and I liked the way that it was explored (even though I could do with a slightly more accessible text). As someone who’s exposure to the Beauty Pageant world happens only through a few movies, I learnt quite a bit about its history and relationship to feminism, something that I had not considered before.

I will admit that I wasn't really expecting a lot out of this book. I have a deep-seated aversion to anything that smacks of sexism and gender roles, and I have long believed that beauty pageants are the epitome of both.

I saw many examples and patterns that I can use as the basis for discussion and inquiry in my US History classroom. The author shows how beauty pageants can be viewed as a microcosm of society at large, and they can actually change as the wider societal ideas of womanhood and femininity change as well. Impressive research and breadth of sources ere.

------Originally posted at www.pluckyreader.com------

Do you know what I love more than almost anything else on this planet? Knowing obscure information that the people around me don’t know. I know, I know. It’s completely inane. It’s like I perpetually want to be that guy at the party who keeps people entertained.

(Okay, to be fair, that’s exactly what I want to be. I miss parties. I miss entertaining. I miss knowing things that the people around me don’t know because my wife is brilliant and knows everything before I have the chance to know it.)

I once wrote a book called 1000 Paper Cranes (you can read it over at Wattpad, typos and all). The protagonist, Jordan, memorized tons and tons and tons of facts so that he could make conversation with people. Jordan is a gross exaggeration of myself. I’m not quite as socially awkward as Jordan (I’m also not a smart driven, but that’s beside the point), but I do love to know things that make people stop and say “hmmm.”

And I feel like my most recent read has contributed greatly to my ability to make people stop, scratch their chins, and say “hmmmm” as they consider the things I just told them. This weekend, I had the pleasure of reading Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America.

If you were to draw a Venn diagram of all my interests, I’m not sure the intersection of all of them would wind up at this book, but somehow, this book rung so many of my bells that it even surprised me. My wife did pageants in college, particularly she wanted to win our university’s pageant which would have made her an important voice for the student body; she would have had a vote at all big meetings concerning our school. The first time she performed in the pageant, we were only just beginning to be close friends and I couldn’t figure out why a woman as smart as she would want to be in pageants. She taught me a lot about pageants then, and that it actually took intelligence, as well as grace, to become involved in the pageant scene.

Once I began dating her, we spent a lot of time watching Toddlers & Tiaras and the drama and disaster of it all drew me in. Whereas a friend of mine was happy to confess that he was going to put his daughter in pageants young, it only served to teach me that my daughters would definitely never do pageants until they asked, and even then they’d have to wait. That’s too much pressure and vicarious-living packed into one makeup-and-hair-spray-filled room for my taste.

Fast-forward a few years and I began teaching in Louisiana. I met and became very close with my friend Jennifer who had been Mrs. Louisiana. Again, my perception of what pageant life meant was altered again. I got to work daily with a woman who often used her pageant training to smile through difficult days and to present her best face when having to speak about difficult topics. She has told me on more than one occasion that her pageant training comes in handy so often at work because of interview skills and her ability to smile through anything.

All that to say, leading up to me getting my hands on this book, I had many preconceived notions about pageants and the types of women who did them. Luckily, these notions were mainly positive, but not always. Especially not with the way Toddlers & Tiaras and other trainwreck TV shows portrayed pageants and people who participated in pageants.

Here She Is shattered every single one of those preconceived notions, even the positive ones I had from my experiences with my wife and Jennifer. From the very beginning, this book worked to reshape the basic understanding of the American Beauty Pageant.

Hilary Levey Friedman, Ph.D., is a sociologist, and a professor in the Department of Education at Brown University. If her teaching is anything like her writing, I’d love to take a class or two from her. She is knowledgeable, well-researched, and writes with an interesting voice. She made me want to keep reading and learning and understanding the pageants and what her research has revealed.

Dr. Friedman has a unique perspective on pageants, being the daughter of Miss America 1970. She brings not only a sociologist’s perspective to the history and development of pageants as we know them but the perspective of somebody close to–on the fringes of–something that is bigger than anybody can see at first glance.

In just the first few pages of Here She Is, I felt like I had learned so much. I was ready to go to my first post-Covid party and wow the crowd with my factoids. (Did you know that the sashes of beauty pageants were modeled after the sashes the suffragettes wore?) Tracking the progression pageants through today, with important conversations surrounding the #MeToo movement, Friedman doesn’t shy away from hard topics. She doesn’t sugarcoat or gloss over the negative parts of the truth surrounding pageants, and that’s so important. Friedman doesn’t approach this as a pageant protestor or supporter, but merely as a third-party observer, with an important female perspective.

So, here’s the deal. If you’ve watched Miss Congeniality more than thrice–on purpose–this book is probably for you. If you’ve had strong feelings about the talent winner of any pageant ever, this book is for you. If you were upset that Kim of Queens was canceled and you didn’t get any closure on Kim Gravel and her students (looking at you, Lifetime), then this is the book for you.

But on a broader spectrum, if you love history, sociology, and women’s rights, this book is for you. It’s well-written, well-researched, and speaks to important topics surrounding the pageant community. Give it a read, learn something new, and continue to learn after that. You’ll thank me for it.

Plucky’s rating?
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Levey Friedman examines the history of beauty pageants in America. As well as her researched information, she also included background from her own experiences. Her mother is a previous Miss America. ⁣
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This was an interesting and very well researched in-depth view of American pageantry. I will admit that I was a bit bogged down in the details of the beginning history. While it’s always interesting to learn something new, I was more interested in drama and scandal of recent pageantry, which of course is compelling. It is important to understand the background first. I loved how the author showed how the industry grew as feminism changed. Each wave of feminism in recent history brought forth new changes: elimination of the swimsuit round, introduction of diversity, discussion of platform (social issues), etc. For example, the chapter title “burning vs. padding bras” was reminiscent of the different point of views during one particular time period. Overall, anyone interested in pageantry and/or feminism as it relates to women competing should read this book. ⁣
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This was a good overview of the beauty pageant culture in America. It was thoroughly researched and easy to read.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting look at beauty pageants! From personal anecdotes to behind the scenes glimpses the author ties the history of Miss America to feminist movements in the US.

There's a lot of interesting historical information about baby parades, how PT Barnum had a historical hand in beauty pageants, and notably controversies around President Trump in his role as owner of the brand. I found the historical context and modern look at beauty pageants interesting and wish that had been more of the story. The author also waits until chapter 4 to dive into the issue of intersectionality and the role of non-white women in Miss America/Miss USA pageants, so there's a lot of history included in the book but most of it is focused on middle and upper middle class white women which feels pretty narrow.

Overall there's a lot of interesting information about pageant life.

I loved this book. It was genius to frame it in the context of First/Second/Third Wave feminism while tracing the history of pageants in the US, but even within that broad framework, Friedman was able to focus on all of the micro-encounters most readers will have had with them. Jon Benet, Toddlers and Tiaras, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Donald Trump, Vanessa Williams - truly it's amazing to think about how much the Miss America/USA organizations have touched pop and political culture. It was just a cherry on top that the author's mother was a Miss America herself.

Interesting look at the history and impact of beauty pageants. Lots of detail, would have benefited from a more unifying thesis.

This was a very in-depth look into how the beauty pageant industry has undergone some drastic changes but still maintains a lot of the same problems and where these issues stem from. It also talks about why pageants still remain popular.