BabyPhat21

Since at least 1950, contestants have had to swear they had never been married and never been pregnant in order to vie for the rhinestone crown and thousands of dollars in scholarship money.

The new ruling would require simply that they sign a document saying, "I am unmarried" and "I am not pregnant and I am not the natural or adoptive parent of any child."

That would open the door to divorceées, women who had had abortions or who had given birth but their child had died.
The "no marriage" rule was imposed after Miss America 1949 Jacque Mercer got married - and divorced - during her tenure.


Do you think that this is good to be open and should Miss Deaf pageants follow along also?????

Deafness

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on AllDeaf.com

Fly Free

BP21 -- according to MizzDeaf she says yes the Miss Deaf America pagents does indeed follow the same rules as the Miss America pageants and have some other rules that has nothing to do with the Miss America pageants -- Miss Deaf America has some additional rules to comply to

VamPyroX

It would be nice to remove the marriage or pregnancy ban. Some people get married when they are young but have a lot of commitment to representing their state. As for pregnancy, what if it was rape? What's worse... abortion or keeping the baby? Keeping the baby would make the contestant look better than having an abortion. They should be considerate of that.

__________________

Check out my city... CLICK HERE!
(If you already visited yesterday, visit again today!)

Ziusudra

Yeah, I think it's a bit unfair because it leaves a lot of young potentials out of the running. The never had been married rule is stupid and so is the no children rule. It's heaps better if they have children as well as it shows responsibility and commitment.

BabyPhat21

what i have noticed is that on the Miss (hearing) America, when they do the video short clips about themselves, you see their or they talk about their fiancee....they have to wait to get married until the pageant is over or something...... what if you dont win and you put your relationship on hold because of the no marriage rule......... also.... its funny that is why many young women are running instead of older women, not many women wait till 27 to get married....... the max age is 27 in the pageant by the way. I wish I could try for it but ya know why I cant

DeafSCUBA98

why u can't? you're still under 27

__________________


Nucleus Freedom 04/18/05
activiated 05/16/05

CatoCooper13

I have never had any interest in the sorts like the Miss USA or whatever contests -- to be honest, I find it boring, ha.

BTW, in a way I realise that it can be a confidence booster for those with low self esteem.

__________________




Til I hold my bub in my arms.

Ziusudra

It can also be a low confidence prick if you lose... since there's only one winner, there's gonna be a lot of upset losers.

Liza

the rules are outdated, yes. personally, i find the whole event and the concept that goes with it boring though. maybe the whole thing is outdated, too?

Levonian

The whole thing is just a bunch of bullshit, as far as I’m concerned. The contest is called Miss America/Miss Deaf America. The only rational prerequisite is that the contestants be single—period. Do you think that if there was an equivalent contest for men that the same rules would apply? You know damn well that they wouldn’t. I hope they change these asinine and archaic rules, and fast. And if they do, go for it BabyPhat. You’ll knock all the other contestants into the dirt.

Levonian

Oh yeah, I just remembered something, BabyPhat. Do you remember Denni? She told me a cute story that you might like. Denni went to high school with a girl of Middle Eastern descent who later became Miss Deaf California. (Her last name is Hassan; I can’t remember her first name). When she went over to Denni’s house for Denni’s birthday party BBQ, Denni’s mother was all pissed off because she had to go out and buy kosher hot dogs just for her. She made a colossal stink about the whole thing. But then she tasted one, and liked it so much that she’s been eating nothing but kosher hot dogs all the rest her life. You see, good things happen when people just pull their heads out and try something a little different.

The Heretic

Hear, hear!! Liza is a oracle. I'm in favor of getting rid of the leftovers of a patriarchist society. As long as chivalry and the institution of marriage exists, equality between the sexes remains a pipe dream.

If there had to be a "miss america" i'd get rid of all the hypocrisy (poise, dumbass talents, intelligence) and leave in the naked truth: the swimsuit competition. That's the only thing the male judges actually pay attention to though, thanks to all that biological hardwiring in their heads.

Don't ask me what the women judges go on - they're probably too busy nitpicking the candidates to death.

__________________
Self-esteem is cleverer than the cleverest person in the world.

BabyPhat21

I am divorced hon, you cant ever be married for the Miss Deaf pageants

BabyPhat21

I checked some sites for male deaf pageants. I came across something interesting.
The MALE contestant can be SINGLE, MARRIED, DIVORCED, OR WIDOWED.

The minimum age is 18 years old.
The Mr. Deaf New York Pageant consists of sportswear, formal wear, a 4 minutes talent, and a formal interview

the link is http://www.esad.org/ now see the difference between the Miss and Mr Deaf NY, click on both links in that site.

VamPyroX

*gasps* There's a discrimination lawsuit right there! Sue 'em!

__________________

Check out my city... CLICK HERE!
(If you already visited yesterday, visit again today!)

DreamDeaf

no swimsuit section for male pageants? damn...sorry for those who rather watch male pageants...darn.

The Heretic

Ladies, you have been demoted by the competition.

Link

__________________
Self-esteem is cleverer than the cleverest person in the world.

BabyPhat21

oh please!

The Heretic

Nice to see your sense of humor is as good as ever!

Don't worry, i still like you anyway.

__________________
Self-esteem is cleverer than the cleverest person in the world.

Dennis

MDA aims to be represented by the "traditional" young, college-aged female who plans to get married someday. This is the conservative (I almost want to say Christian, but I've actually quite often seen these pageants run by Jewish women!) ideal that the woman most worthy of being married to is the intelligent, beautiful, and extraordinary single young woman who will win many suitors as the pageant winner.

In spite of all that, I still think that MDA should be restricted to never-married, no children, college attending / college entering women. If you're 30-90 years old and never married nor had kids, be my guest!



For Mr Deaf America, I can see why it's acceptable for men to have been married or divorced -- socially, men are more wanted to be father figures than glamor models -- hollywood reflects this desire quite well, for handsome, older, mature actors retain their popularity (Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, etc.).

Levonian

Are you suggesting that the fact that a woman has been married and/or has children diminishes her beauty and intelligence?

Dennis

No, but I am suggesting that the Miss America pageant (and thus Miss Deaf America pageant) wants to encourage more women to:

1) Not have sex before marriage
2) Finish college before having children

To this end, they seek role models who represent this view.

I strongly believe that women who are married or have had kids or are older than "27 years old as of the date of the pageant" are every bit as intelligent, beautiful, and wonderful as their unmarried and uncarrying counterparts. That just is NOT WHAT THE M.D.A. wants to promote to the public.

Levonian

Oh, OK. It was the second sentence of your post that threw me off. But when I reread it, I could see that you were saying that that was the pageant's position.

BabyPhat21

Hold on, if they want to encourage for them not to have sex before marriage lol, they should check them for virgnity. A lot of them ARE not virgins........ lol wow if they had to require that they be virgins and have to go through a doctor's check up........there will not be many people qualifying...
I can see it now......on a date......a boy and girl making out....... boy tries to undo shirt, girl says, stop it honey, I want to be Miss America.........
that would be the new reject line...........

Dennis

*snicker*

Point taken. They sure are encouraging the "virginity" aspect quite a bit, up to a point. After all, why would they bother with chaperones and rules about "public displays of affection?"

In my experience: two of the more recent MDA's, Lauren Teruel and Amy Wong, had to curtail their affection towards ANY male person in public, PRIOR to their winning MDA. Their behavior was being observed outside of regular competition time, and believe it or not, it would have affected their scoring, even if it did not affect their performances. Four other California contestants have explained that they had to tone down their behavior because of those rules (Sarahlena, Lexi, Stephanie and Evelina). Whether or not those rules are explicitly stated in the rulebooks, or implicitly stated in actions, or unfairly stated by some stupid person in charge of the pageant because of their moral values, these rules do affect how well the girls do on their ability to win the crown.

BabyPhat21

bit off topic but I used to hear that in the pageants they used to have sex with the judge to bribe them to vote high numbers for them