The Harvard educated, Air Force pilot Miss America shows us that beauty pageants aren’t outdated – they celebrate women
TYPICALLY, I wouldn’t give two hoots about who wins Miss America or any other national “beauty”competition out there.
Parading women in front of a panel of judges feels completely outdated.
This is not because I’m some sort of prude. We can all appreciate a beautiful woman when we see one and, if they want to get their kit off for a sash and a tiara, then I defend their right to do so.
But, for a long time, beauty pageants have made a whole industry out of taking a very narrow idea of what constitutes “beautiful” and putting it on a pedestal that virtually no ordinary woman can reach.
Well, not without the help of multiple plastic surgeries, anyway.
To make it worse, recent trends to wokeify pageants by opening them up to include biological men who identify as women have made the contests even more cringe-worthy.
In some cases, like the Miss Netherland’s contest last year, a trans woman has gone on to win the crown in what is effectively a huge middle finger to biological women.
And don’t get me started on the totally creepy child beauty pageants that were showcased in hit reality show Toddlers And Tiaras before it was all but cancelled amid too much controversy.
As the mother of a daughter – a rather smugly clever and precocious one – the obsession with beauty over brains is something I worry about. I don’t want her growing up thinking beauty is all about how many likes you get on half-clad Instagram pics.
Because of the ever-growing pressure to be permanently “beautiful”, too many young women have now had more plastic surgeries than they have GCSEs.
And a lot of young female influencers are, well, less University Challenge and more intellectually challenged.
But if the new Miss America represents the calibre of candidate beauty pageants will aim to attract in future, then I can completely get behind it.
Madison Marsh is undoubtedly gorgeous. But it’s really not her physical beauty that makes her impressive. She’s remarkable because she also has all the qualities to be a proper role model.
Quite frankly, she has absolutely everything going for her – and good for her for reminding the world that beauty and brains together are a killer combo. She’s exactly the kind of role model I want my daughter to have.
After her win, Madison posted a heartwarming message on her Instagram: “Here’s to showing the world that women can do anything.” She added: “To my momma – this whole year is for you”, as she vowed to use her fame to keep raising pancreatic cancer awareness.
Perhaps it’s time I re-evaluate my disdain towards beauty pageants.
This might be the start of a trend of young, ambitious women fearlessly embracing the spotlight, unapologetically strutting their stuff with brains and beauty in perfect harmony.
A Miss America who’s an Air Force fighter pilot? Meet Top hun!
By Grace Macaskill
SHE is an US air force pilot, physics graduate, AI expert – and now Miss America.
Real-life Wonder Woman Madison Marsh has smashed the beauty queen stereotype with her grit, determination and adventurous spirit.
And as the stunning second lieutenant began her title reign in the States, she vowed: “Here’s to showing the world that women can do anything.”
Madison, 22 — who holds a black belt in taekwondo and made her debut solo flight aged 16 — is the first active military member to win the century-old pageant.
Air force chiefs were among the first to praise their Top Gun after she was crowned at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida on Sunday. They wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Congratulations to our very own airman — who was just crowned Miss America 2024!”
Madison — who is training to be a frontline fighter pilot — beat 50 other contestants to the top spot, and said: “I’m very excited to get to represent women who can break stereotypes.”
She had blown the judges away in the talent section of the competition.
While her rivals danced, sang and acted in their bid for glory, she told how her first experience piloting a plane solo in her teens had strengthened her leadership skills.
She added: “Whether I’m seated in the cockpit or standing in my crown, I know the sky is not the limit.”
Before the show, Madison, whose cousin introduced her to pageants, had said: “It’s an awesome experience to bring both sides of the favourite parts of my life together.
“And hopefully make a difference for others to be able to realise you don’t have to limit yourself.”
She said beauty contests are a valuable experience for young girls as they work to build their confidence, take good care of themselves and do their bit to help others. She explained: “Pageants are changing and one of the ways is in what being physically fit means to women.
“For me, it’s great because I need to stay physically fit and in the gym for the military, so it already coincides with pageant training.
“My cousin had competed in pageants for a long time, and one of the big things that I love is the community service aspect and the focus on public speaking.”
‘On a mission’
After her win, Madison told People magazine she was proud to demonstrate that not all beauty queens are just a pretty face.
She said: “We’ve had this preconceived notion in the past that you might be judged (for beauty contests) and not be taken seriously as a leader.
“This just proves that you can be feminine while leaning into your leadership role.”
As a child, Madison dreamed of being a biologist, but changed her mind when her parents sent her to space camp aged 13. She took up flying lessons two years later and already had her licence when she joined the United States Air Force Academy in 2019.
There, she studied physics with a focus on astronomy and won an internship with Nasa on a project looking at gamma rays. She is now doing a public policy master’s at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a partnership with the air force.
Madison, from Arkansas, started taking part in pageants during her first year with the military.
She said: “I think at first everyone was very confused. The first year at the Academy is hardest. You wear the uniform 24/7, you own no civilian clothes. You’re training all the time. It’s military, military, military.
“I think everyone was like, ‘What in the world is she doing?’. They had an obvious stereotype, but I know after watching Miss America my family understood why I competed.”
Madison lost her mum Whitney, 41, who worked helping foster kids, to pancreatic cancer in 2018 and set up a research charity in her name. She has raised around £200,000 for the cause by staging annual 5k and 10k runs.
The trailblazer — who is also the reigning Miss Colorado — has been studying the use of AI to detect the disease that took her mum from her and plans to use her crown to raise cancer awareness.
In a poignant Instagram post, she wrote of her win: “To my momma — this whole year is for you. If you were in the audience . . . I know you would have been my first hug.
“The world is about to know your story, light and love.”
Madison lavished praise on her fellow beauty queens, insisting: “It’s more than just the superficial stuff.
“You see young women that are talented, passionate and well-spoken, with some of the best resumes you’ll ever see. They are community driven and on a mission.”