beauty pageant

Most dog owners will go on at length about how cute their dogs are. Not so, Jason Wurtz of Encinco, CA. Mr. Wurtz, in fact, went the polar opposite route by leading his dog to victory in the 2016 World’s Ugliest Dog contest.

I’d like to think my son won his first (and only) beauty pageant because of his sparkling personality, curly mop of hair, bright blue eyes, and adorable tuxedo — but the truth is that he won because he was the only boy in the entire pageant. He won every category I entered him in, regardless of his looks, personality, or actions. He literally won just for showing up. It was the embodiment of both white and male privilege.

I gladly call myself a feminist. And I love being a pageant contestant.

Journeying down a path toward a new, more inclusive kind of feminism, we're at a crossroads where it's harder to challenge what Miss America is about.