American Beauty

There have always been women willing to capitalise on their nubility.

There have always been other women who resent those women getting attention because of their sex appeal.

My observations  on the SKY News program Heads Up about the feminist movement and changes to the Miss America pageant drew some comment.

Swimsuit and evening gown parades will no longer be part of the competition and instead there will be “a live interactive session with the judges” in which a contestant “will highlight her achievements and goals in life.”

These moves are dressed up – pardon the expression – with the usual cant.

E.g.: “If Miss America wants to get out of the sexism game, it should probably end Miss America,” the writer Jill Filipovic posted on Twitter.

“Sure, it’s a relatively good thing that in 2018 this organization has realized it’s dehumanizing to compare and judge women’s bodies in front of a vast, international audience,” said Julie Zeilinger, the founder of a feminist blog called FBomb. “But when Gretchen Carlson says we are ‘not going to judge you on your outward appearance,’ the implication is that the competition will still judge women — just not by measures of blatant physical objectification.”

Apparently it’s OK to use the power of that blatant physical objectification if and when you have it.

But not if you’ve never had it – or had it once but not any more.

I give you Germaine Greer.

Germaine objects to Beyoncé  – among others – showing all that skin.

Although she was more than happy to do it herself when it suited…

Her excuse now is that she was being “disruptive” and “rebellious”.

But back in the day she put her aims in more earthy terms.

“On one occasion”, Christine Wallace wrote in Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew, “she walked in to a Melbourne café and pronounced loudly ‘I’d like to wrap my big juicy cunt around…’ naming the man who was the current object of her desire. To say this attracted attention in late 1950’s Melbourne is a considerable understatement”.

Seems Germaine has changed over the years.

As for the Miss America pageant – it’s changed too.

Seven of the nine board members are now women.

Guess that says it all really.