Editing Beauty pageant (section)

== History ==
===Early history===
[[File:Jane Georgina, Lady Seymour, Eglinton Tournament..jpg|thumb|[[Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset]] was crowned the 'Queen of Beauty' at the Eglinton Tournament of 1839.]]
[[File:Beauty show, 1922, (8-5-22) LOC npcc.06819 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Woman receiving an award for winning a beauty pageant, 1922]]
[[File:Celebración del 7 Festival de Tradiciones Canarias en Cuba (2010), princesa dácil.jpg|thumb|upright|Celebration of the "''[[Dácil|Princess Dácil]]''" contest at the Seventh Festival of Canarian Traditions in Cuba. In the center of the image, Mary Ann Álvarez Robbio, who was the winner of the contest in 2010.]]
[[File:Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant.ogv|thumb|Lone Star State selects beauties for 100 Year Pageant.<ref name="Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant">{{cite web|title=Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant|url=http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=Lone_Star_State_Selects_Beauties_for_100_Year_Pageant&gsearch=beauties|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314202157/http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=Lone_Star_State_Selects_Beauties_for_100_Year_Pageant&gsearch=beauties|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2012|publisher=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=21 July 2011|author=Universal Newsreel|year=1935}}</ref>]]

European festivals dating back to the [[Middle Ages]] provide the most direct lineage for beauty pageants. For example, English [[May Day]] celebrations always had the selection of a [[May Queen]]. In the United States, the May Day tradition of selecting a woman to serve as a symbol of beauty and community ideals continued, as young, beautiful women participated in public celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/peopleevents/e_origins.html|title=Miss America: People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant|publisher=Pbs.org |access-date= 21 May 2014}}</ref>

A beauty pageant was held during the [[Eglinton Tournament]] of 1839, organized by [[Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton]], as part of a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won by [[Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset]], the wife of [[Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset]], and sister of [[Caroline Norton]], and she was proclaimed as the "Queen of Beauty".<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vfonRGFZ3k|title=Beauty Pageants: Then vs Now|publisher=80Twelve|date=15 April 2016|via=YouTube}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2020}} Beauty contests became more popular in the 1880s. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old [[Creole peoples|Creole]] contestant at a pageant in [[Spa, Belgium]]. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible to enter and a final selection of 21 was judged by a formal panel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beauty Pageants History: The Beginning and Beyond|url=http://florida-beauty-pageants.com/|access-date=7 June 2013|archive-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307142546/http://florida-beauty-pageants.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such events were not regarded as respectable. In 1880, [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware]] held the first recorded beauty pageant in the United States, searching for "the most beautiful unmarried woman in our nation" and awarding her the title of [[Miss United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 1988 |title=The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/222947047/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grout |first=Holly |date=Spring 2013 |title=Between Venus and Mercury: The 1920s Beauty Contest in France and America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24517582.pdf |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2013.310103 |jstor=24517582 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Beauty Pageant Origins and Culture {{!}} American Experience |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/missamerica-beauty-pageant-origins-and-culture/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=www.pbs.org [[PBS]] |language=en}}</ref>

===National and international pageants===

Beauty contests came to be considered more respectable with the first modern "[[Miss America]]" contest held in 1921.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vfonRGFZ3k|title=Beauty Pageants: Then vs Now – 80Twelve|last=80Twelve|date=15 April 2016|via=YouTube}}</ref> The oldest pageant still in operation today is the [[Miss America]] pageant, which was organized in 1921 by a local businessman to entice tourists to [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]].<ref name=Almanac>{{cite web|url=http://www.pageant-almanac.com/history.php |title=History |access-date=6 November 2008 |publisher=Pageant Almanac |archive-url=https://archive.today/20081212171149/http://www.pageant-almanac.com/history.php |archive-date=12 December 2008 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The pageant hosted the winners of local newspaper beauty contests in the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest, attended by over one hundred thousand people. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., was crowned Miss America 1921, having won both the popularity and beauty contests, and was awarded $100.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Miss America|journal=In Encyclopedia of New Jersey|year=2004|url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/rutgersnj/miss_america|access-date=6 October 2012}}</ref>
[[Image:11 women and a little girl lined up for bathing beauty contest.png|thumb|Bathing beauty contest, USA, 1920]]
In May 1920, promoter C.E. Barfield of [[Galveston, Texas]] organized a new event known as "Splash Day" on the island. The event featured a "Bathing Girl Revue" competition as the centerpiece of its attractions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Beauty Queen: Here She Comes...|author=Stein, Elissa|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/beautyqueenheres0000stei/page/37 37]|url=https://archive.org/details/beautyqueenheres0000stei|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-8118-4864-0}}<br />{{cite web|url=http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/vanities/|publisher=Assumption College|title=Revues and other Vanities: The Commodification of Fantasy in the 1920s|access-date=2 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Sloane Collection, no. 4 – Galveston Bathing Girl Revue, 1925|url=http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=The_Sloane_Collection%2C_no._4_-_Galveston_Bathing_Girl_Revue%2C_1925|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314202222/http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=The_Sloane_Collection,_no._4_-_Galveston_Bathing_Girl_Revue,_1925|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2012|work=Story Sloane, III Collection|publisher=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=21 July 2011|year=1925}}</ref><ref name="Miss United States">{{cite journal | title=Miss United States Began in Galveston | journal=The Islander Magazine | year=2006 | url=http://www.theislandermagazine.com/history/february2008/missus.html | access-date=1 October 2009 | archive-date=19 October 2009 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20091019112900/http://www.theislandermagazine.com/history/february2008/missus.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="GDN: Pulchritude">{{cite news | title=Miss America was once Pageant of Pulchritude | author=Cherry, Bill | date=25 October 2004 | work=Galveston Daily News | url=http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=623557678868710e&-session=TheDailyNews:4A0612E91631c3859FiIR3DFCB8A | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021044033/http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=623557678868710e&-session=TheDailyNews%3A4A0612E91631c3859FiIR3DFCB8A | archive-date=21 October 2009}}</ref> The event was the kick-off of the summer tourist season in the city and was carried forward annually. The event quickly became known outside of Texas and, beginning in 1926, the world's first international contest was added, known as the [[International Pageant of Pulchritude]].<ref name="Miss United States" /> This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants.<ref name="GDN: Pulchritude" /><ref>{{cite news | title=Isle bathing beauty tradition reborn | author=Brown, Bridget | work=Galveston Daily News | date=17 May 2009 | url=http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ca097dc8342ddcc5 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716231544/http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ca097dc8342ddcc5 | archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Beauty queens: a playful history | page=[https://archive.org/details/beautyqueensplay0000sava/page/33 33] | author=Savage, Candace | publisher=Abbeville | year=1998 | url=https://archive.org/details/beautyqueensplay0000sava | url-access=registration | isbn=978-1-55054-618-7}}</ref> It featured contestants from England, Russia, [[Turkey]], and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe".<ref name="GDN: Pulchritude" /><ref>{{cite web| title=The Billboard | date=25 September 1948 | page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Tx4EAAAAMBAJ/page/n42 49] | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Tx4EAAAAMBAJ| publisher=Nielsen Business Media }}</ref> The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).<ref name="Jones Durham 2013 p. 120">{{cite book | last1=Jones | first1=W.D. | last2=Durham | first2=J. | title=Galveston: Playground of the Southwest | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | series=Images of America | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-7385-9647-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQupVvkG92EC&pg=PA120 | access-date=2023-06-06 | page=120}}</ref><ref name="Sudarshan 2022 p. 20">{{cite book | last=Sudarshan | first=A. | title=Beauty Queen: The Pathway to Pageantry | publisher=Amaryllis | year=2022 | isbn=978-93-90924-10-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqSkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 | access-date=2023-06-06 | page=20}}</ref>

The popularity of the Miss America pageant prompted other organizations to establish similar contests in the 1950s and beyond. Some were significant while others were trivial, such as the National Donut Queen contest. The [[Miss World]] contest started in 1951, [[Miss Universe]] started in 1952, as did [[Miss USA]]. [[Miss International]] started in 1960. [[Miss Asia Pacific International]], which started in 1968, is the first and oldest beauty pageant in Asia.<ref name="IndiaTimes">{{cite web|url=http://beautypageants.indiatimes.com/miss-india/Yevgeniya-Lapova-the-last-winner-of-Miss-Asia-Pacific-International/articleshow/20929838.cms|title=Yevgeniya Lapova: the last winner of Miss Asia Pacific International|date=11 July 2013|newspaper=[[India Times]]|access-date=2017-01-02}}</ref><ref name="Darling of press">{{cite news|last1=Adina|first1=Armin|title=Over 40 contestants join 2017 Miss Asia Pacific International|url=http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/278741/2017-miss-asia-pacific-international/|access-date=26 November 2017|issue=Online|publisher=1997–2016 Inquirer.net|date=13 November 2017|ref=Darling of press}}</ref> The [[Miss Black America]] contest started in 1968<ref name = timeline>{{Cite web |title= The Ritz-Carlton Hotel – Atlantic City | work = Historical Timeline | url = http://ritzac.com/Ritz%20History%20Time%20Line.pdf | access-date = 25 June 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100923005948/http://ritzac.com/Ritz%20History%20Time%20Line.pdf | archive-date = 23 September 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> in response to the exclusion of African American women from the Miss America pageant. The Miss Universe Organization started the [[Miss Teen USA]] in 1983 for the 14–19 age group. [[Miss Earth]] started in 2001, which channels the beauty pageant entertainment industry to actively promote the preservation of the environment.<ref name="channeling-beauty">{{cite magazine|last1=Warner|first1=Claire|title=What Is The Miss Earth Pageant? Angelia Ong Isn't The Only Winner You Need To Know|url=http://www.bustle.com/articles/127958-what-is-the-miss-earth-pageant-angelia-ong-isnt-the-only-winner-you-need-to-know|access-date=31 January 2016|magazine=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]]|date=6 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="missearth.tv/about.html">{{cite news|title=About Miss Earth Beauty Pageant|url=http://www.missearth.tv/about.html|publisher=Miss Earth official website, Carousel Productions, Inc|first=Lorraine|last=Schuck|date=12 October 2006|access-date=2 August 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080224140925/http://www.missearth.tv/about.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 24 February 2008}}</ref> These contests continue to this day.