Editing Beauty pageant (section)

== Diversity ==
Diversity of contestants and winners have both increased since the inception of beauty pageants. In 1945, [[Bess Myerson]], an American politician, model and, television actress became the first Jewish person to win the Miss America title in the Atlantic city and to this day remains the only Jewish person to have received the crown. Her success in winning the title was hugely symbolic and personal to Jewish people at that time because it in the direct aftermath of the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 July 2018|title=The Curse of Beauty: America's First Jewish Pageant Winner|url=https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/236020/curse-beauty-americas-first-jewish-pageant-winner/|access-date=2021-03-03|website=Jewish Journal|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1959, Japanese model [[Akiko Kojima]] became the first woman of color to win the [[Miss Universe]] title. Her success marked the beginning of a shift away from white women as the global female beauty ideal.<ref name="Riding the Crest">{{cite book |last1=Lim |first1=Shirley |title=A Feeling of Belonging |date=31 December 2022 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-6524-1 |pages=155–188 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814765241.003.0009/pdf |chapter=5. Riding the Crest of an Oriental Wave: Foreign-Born Asian "Beauty"|doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814765241.003.0009 }}</ref> The continued success of Asian women in American and international beauty pageants has signaled that white women are no longer considered the beauty ideal.<ref name="Hune Nomura 2003 p. ">{{cite book | last1=Hune | first1=S. | last2=Nomura | first2=G.M. | title=Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology | publisher=NYU Press | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-8147-3633-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XD1BR4NppWcC | access-date=2023-06-03 | page=160| quote= The dawning of the new millennium may signal a shift in the cultural importance of racialized gendered bodies. On October 14, 2000, a Filipina American, Miss Hawaii Angela Perez Baraquio, was crowned Miss America for 2001. A few years earlier another Miss Hawaii, a mixed-race part-Asian American woman named Brook Antoinette Mahealani Lee, won not only the Miss USA competition but the title of 1997 Miss Universe. Such victories do not necessarily mean full acceptance for Asian Americans into the American body politic. However they do signal a breakdown in the hegemony of European-American cultural standards of beauty.}}</ref> In 1983, [[Vanessa Williams]], an American singer, actress and fashion designer gained recognition as being the first African American woman to receive the Miss America title.<ref name="Brand 2000 p. 157">{{cite book | last=Brand | first=P.Z. | title=Beauty Matters | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-253-21375-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7yjRlwg8agC&pg=PA157 | access-date=2023-06-06 | page=157}}</ref> In 1991, [[Lupita Jones]], a Mexican actress and television producer, became the first Mexican person to win Miss Universe.<ref name="Orme 1997">{{cite book | last=Orme | first=W.A. | title=A Culture of Collusion: An Inside Look at the Mexican Press | publisher=North-South Center Press, University of Miami | issue=v. 10 | year=1997 | isbn=978-1-57454-012-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vKtZAAAAMAAJ | access-date=2023-06-06 | page=52}}</ref>

Besides the international beauty pageants, numerous minor competitions exist throughout the world displaying the different perceptions of beauty. Some examples of criteria to select beauty queens that are unique to certain culture. The Miss India USA pageant uses [[History of India|Indian history]] and traditional craft skills as its specialties,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kozol |first1=Wendy |title=Miss Indian America: Regulatory Gazes and the Politics of Affiliation |journal=Feminist Studies |date=2005 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=64–94 |doi=10.2307/20459007 |jstor=20459007 |hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0031.104 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mani |first1=Bakirathi |title=Beauty Queens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Transnational Modernities at the Miss India USA Pageant |journal=Positions |date=2006 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=717–747 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu.echo.louisville.edu/article/208508 |access-date=22 October 2018|doi=10.1215/10679847-2006-019 |s2cid=145258485 }}</ref> while the Miss Howard University competition takes advantage of the principles of "black beauty".<ref name="auto2">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Jennifer C. |title=Pageantry & Politics: Miss Howard University from Civil Rights to Black Power |journal=Journal of Negro Education |date=2018 |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=22–32 |doi=10.7709/jnegroeducation.87.1.0022 |s2cid=149869932 }}</ref> The winner is often viewed as a model for the "ideal" community member.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hinojosa |first1=Magda |last2=Carle |first2=Jill |title=From Miss World to World Leader: Beauty Queens, Paths to Power, and Political Representations |journal=Journal of Women, Politics & Policy |date=2016 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=24–26 |doi=10.1080/1554477X.2016.1116298 |s2cid=147392523 }}</ref> Through the competitions, the contestants can learn how to present themselves in public and how to cultivate certain traits such as confidence or poise.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Mary |last2=Kerwin |first2=Gregory |last3=Gurung |first3=Alka |last4=Kihati |first4=Deepti |last5=Jha |first5=Pinky |last6=Regmi |first6=Anjana Chalise |title=Globalizing Beauty: Attitudes toward Beauty Pageants among Nepali Women |journal=Feminism & Psychology |date=2008 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=61–86 |doi=10.1177/0959353507084953 |s2cid=144020273 }}</ref> In some cases, the competitors are selected to act as a representative on behalf of the community. In the African American community of Howard University, the selected Miss Howard University served as advocates for the Civil Rights Movement in the decades following the 1960s.<ref name="auto2"/> Additionally, the Miss Landmine competition situated in [[Angola]] allow victims to serve as advocates on behalf of other victims of mining accidents.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bloul |first1=Rachel |title=Ain't I a woman? Female landmine survivors' beauty pageants and the ethics of staring. |journal=Social Identities |date=January 2012 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=3–18 |doi=10.1080/13504630.2012.629507 |s2cid=145453579 }}</ref>

Researchers suggest that the emergence of beauty pageants in countries outside the United States is linked to an economic boom geared towards a more consumeristic lifestyle. For example, in India, from 1996 to 2000, the personal care industry grew by 25% while the number of women applying for the Miss India competition increased from 1000 people in 1993 to 6500 people in 2001.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parameswaran |first1=Radhika |title=Global queens, national celebrities: tales of feminine triumph in post-liberalization India |journal=Critical Studies in Media Communication |date=December 2004 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=346–370 |doi=10.1080/0739318042000245363 |s2cid=14406042 }}</ref> Additionally, after China hosted about 6 international beauty pageants in 2004, the beauty industry increased in influence in the area. At the same time, the number of regional beauty pageants in the country increased.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Gary |last2=Feiner |first2=Susan |title=Meinü Jingji/China's beauty economy: Buying looks, shifting value, and changing place. |journal=Feminist Economics |date=2007 |volume=13 |issue=3/4 |pages=307–323 |doi=10.1080/13545700701439499 |s2cid=154960583 }}</ref>