Miss Teen USA Eliminates Swimsuit Competition

Miss. Teen USA is one of America’s highest-profile beauty pageants. Founded 33 years ago, the competition has always featured rounds where contestants compete in private interviews with the judges, and presentation rounds in evening wear, and swim suits. However, change is coming this July 30th at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. For the first year ever, the swimsuit round has been eliminated. Instead, the 51 women will be judged in a brand-new athletic wear competition.

The pageant’s organizers stated that the swimsuit portions were always intended to show off the athleticism of the competitors. However, the swimsuit category was chastised for exploiting and sexualizing young women and not promoting diverse body types. The new athletic-wear portion will now focus on young women’s health and wellness.

Former Miss Teen USA Katherine Haik always wanted to eliminate the swimsuit round. “I have always been an athlete my entire life. As member of a softball team and a competitive dance team, I spend a lot of time in athletic wear,” she stated. “This new direction for Miss Teen USA is a great way to celebrate the active lives that so many women lead and set a strong example for our peers.”

The pageant’s shift from swimsuits to athletic wear is also a smart business move, chasing the rise of athleisure fashion, says former Miss Virginia Nancy Redd. “Teens are spending 1 percent of their life in a bathing suite and 50 percent in athleisure. The pageant is following the trend of who can sponsor them.”

Reaction to the new decision was overwhelmingly positive, with many comments from former contestants and judges. This big switch could impact the other pageants in the Miss. Universe organization. It will be interesting to see if they follow the lead of Miss Teen USA.  The 2016 Miss Teen USA pageant will be held in Las Vegas on July 30^th.

Written by Lexie Gomez of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Call Her Thor—But Don’t Stop There

 Is She Enough, Or Will Marvel Continue to Market Diversity?

The mighty Thor, thunder-God, symbol of aggression, war, and masculinity is now a woman. To which I say: it’s about time!

As of October 1, 2014, Marvel has updated its iconic character’s DNA to include two X chromosomes. All one has to do is take to Twitter or Facebook to see varying degrees of encouragement and backlash regarding this character change.

When I saw the image trending of the new female Thor, I was instantly excited. She’s strong, striking, AND feminine.

But I felt a twinge of lingering skepticism.

Her image transported me back to my childhood when I would sit with my older cousin and read comic books with him. I loved the intricate story lines, characters’ inner turmoil, and stunning imagery.

But it wasn’t long before I noticed there were no faces like mine in the pages of comics, and I began to drift toward books with a strong central heroine.

I’ve since peeked my head into the super hero world—mostly, I’ve watched a few blockbuster movies, studied mythology, and fell in love with Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which is a multi-generational epic that follows two cousins as they create their own comic book empire.

The book is a fantastic literary achievement, but what irks me is the only female character starts out as a strong, interesting creator of comics, then gets tangled up in love, sells out, and scrapes by writing romance books.

Ugh. But let’s be honest, the media doesn’t exactly tell us we’re all perfect just the way we are.

This is something that I’ve seen communicated time and time again in books, movies, and media: these painfully obvious, missed opportunities for intellectual, diverse characters.

Don’t get me wrong; I commend Marvel for this seemingly huge step toward changing how we as media consumers, readers, and humans think about gender.   

But I worry that Marvel will smile and wave, take a pretty bow, and grow lazy in all this media-generated praise. “Look—We’ve diversified! Yes, Thor is still blonde and white and able-bodied….but she’s a woman!”

And while Thor is the most recent, she’s definitely not the only notable woman in comics. We can’t forget Elektra, Wonder Woman, and Storm.

While these characters have made huge advances for gender inclusion in the genre, the comic universe—and the media— still has a long way to go in communicating and marketing gender for what it is: a spectrum that is both diverse AND equal.

I don’t know what roads Marvel will take this new Thor down. I do find consolation in Marvel’s female employees speaking publicly about character changes like Thor’s; these are voices we need to hear more of. I do think social media is a great platform for Marvel to communicate with us as readers and consumers. Social media can be a two-way street where Marvel can ask questions and fans can offer feedback. I do know I want to see more changes like this.

Changes where people, and super heroes, are marketed for what they really are: powerful enough, despite gender or color, to change the planet.

Written by Casey Nichols of Rebecca Adele PR & Events