Beauty pageants existed for every conceivable event - Miss Water Sports, Miss Neches River Festival, Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition Queen; even Miss Firecracker Legs. Girls paraded across the stage one Fourth of July in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with the curtain lowered to reveal only their legs. Judging took place solely on the basis of the beauty of the contestants' legs.
I love this collage and the words that go with it... and at the same time it makes me so very sad.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to say something like, "My how times have changed..." Except... I guess they haven't. I wonder when we, either as a country or a species, decided that judging people by dehumanizing them was such an awesome idea. A legs-only beauty competition?? Really?
Hmm.
A friend emailed asking if this event actually took place. Sadly it did. The girl who won "Miss Firecracker Legs" that year, later won "Miss Louisiana". She obtained special permission to have a male partner dance with her in the Miss American Pageant.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the insightful remarks, Jonathan. I hope you'll continue to comment. Joelle