Here she is : the complicated reign of the beauty pageant in America / Hilary Levey Friedman.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Boston, Massachussetts : Beacon Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©2020Description: xvi, 264 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780807083284
- 0807083283
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 791.6609 F911 | Available | 33111010441125 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A fresh exploration of American feminist history told through the lens of the beauty pageant world.
Many predicted that pageants would disappear by the 21st century. Yet they are thriving. America's most enduring contest, Miss America, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020. Why do they persist? In Here She Is , Hilary Levey Friedman reveals the surprising ways pageants have been an empowering feminist tradition. She traces the role of pageants in many of the feminist movement's signature achievements, including bringing women into the public sphere, helping them become leaders in business and politics, providing increased educational opportunities, and giving them a voice in the age of #MeToo.
Using her unique perspective as a NOW state president, daughter to Miss America 1970, sometimes pageant judge, and scholar, Friedman explores how pageants became so deeply embedded in American life from their origins as a P.T. Barnum spectacle at the birth of the suffrage movement, through Miss Universe's bathing beauties to the talent- and achievement-based competitions of today. She looks at how pageantry has morphed into culture everywhere from The Bachelor and RuPaul's Drag Race to cheer and specialized contests like those for children, Indigenous women, and contestants with disabilities. Friedman also acknowledges the damaging and unrealistic expectations pageants place on women in society and discusses the controversies, including Miss America's ableist and racist history, Trump's ownership of the Miss Universe Organization, and the death of child pageant-winner JonBenét Ramsey.
Presenting a more complex narrative than what's been previously portrayed, Here She Is shows that as American women continue to evolve, so too will beauty pageants.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-249) and index.
"Many predicted that pageants would disappear by the 21st century. Yet they are thriving. America's most enduring contest, Miss America, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020. Why do they persist? In Here She Is, Hilary Levey Friedman reveals the surprising ways pageants have been an empowering feminist tradition. She traces the role of pageants in many of the feminist movement's signature achievements, including bringing women into the public sphere, helping them become leaders in business and politics, providing increased educational opportunities, and giving them a voice in the age of #MeToo." -- Provided by publisher.
Machine generated contents note: pt. I The Birth of American Pageantry and the Feminist Movement -- ch. 1 America's Handsomest Suffragists: The Start Of The Woman Movement And Beauty Culture -- ch. 2 Sashes And Suffrage: After The Vote -- pt. II The (Second) Wave of Bras and Beliefs -- ch. 3 Burning Versus Padding Bras: The Establishment Of Second Wave Feminism -- ch. 4 Penthouse And Platforms: Identity And Intersectional Politics -- pt. III Tabloids, Trump, Tits -- ch. 5 Tabloids And Tiaras: The Jonbenet Ramsey Murder And "Reality" Tv -- ch. 6 The Pageantry Of Politics: Campaigns During The #Metoo Era.