Has The Time Come To Discontinue The Miss America Pageant?

There should be a contest for women and men who's been contributing to our society, instead of judging them by how they look. After a while, this kind of contests gets old, right?

I do not see any harm my children enjoy watching it been around for a long time it doesn't bother me.

It's not the same as it used to be when I was a kid and watched every single minute with my cousin picking our top ten. Sad when you think about that being our "sport". I think it's time to end it but there's too much money to be made so I think it will keep dragging on and on.

I can't believe people even watch this... who really cares, I don't.

I grew up watching Miss America because my mom, a product of the 1950s, somehow enjoyed it. Aside from giggling at idiotic interviews and talent travesties, the only part I looked forward to was the evening gowns. Hey, who doesn't like pretty dresses? As a child I never contemplated the sexism of the swimsuit competition, but like most American teen girls, I developed an unhealthy obsession with trying to be thin. Despite earning academic scholarships for college, I never felt more accomplished than when my father said I looked like Miss America in a one-piece bathing suit. I'm not saying the annual meat parade was solely to blame for my low self-esteem and slightly skewed priorities, but it certainly didn't help. Somehow I got the message loud and clear that how I looked trumped what I thought or how I behaved. It's a message that today's and tomorrow's girls don't need to have reinforced, and pageants like this are long overdue to die out.

It seems like a valid tradition but new categories can be added and old ones updated to keep it fresh. :)

Another way of objectifying women...and now its been passed on to little girls. Go away pageants!

i enjoyed watching this as a teen and young adult and still do watch it today. It provides great opportunities but it probably should be updated to reflect more current beliefs. we don't need swimsuit competitions and life should not be about who is the prettiest or best looking. the talents portion is a good thing and I am sure new ideas could come about to do away with the superficial contest parts of it.

I don't think that it needs to end. Like any other show if people don't like it they can change the channel.

With no royalty in the US, this is a rare opportunity for many girls to be a princess for a day & feel adored by admirers. To say that this should be gotten rid of is like saying that we should remove the chance for a girl to feel the success of winning a court case. Not all women feel, think, or act the same. What may be boring nonsense to one woman is the dream of a lifetime to another. When you dismiss "girly" things & call it "feminism" all you're really doing is shutting another woman's dream down because you think YOUR dream is better. We should be willing to accept that not all girls are the same. Supporting females shouldn't be about making sure that one vision of womanhood is ascertained, but about making certain that all women are free to pursue the careers and goals of their OWN choice and making.

I haven't watch a beauty pageant in decades, so I certainly wouldn't miss them being televised. I've never liked the swim suit competition, so that should be discontinued even if the pageant goes on.

There are worse things on television than this pageant. I'd rather see adults in pageants than children any day....I personally don't watch it but someone apparently does or it would not still be on!

I think the Miss America pageant is not owned or produced by Donald Trump and that the Miss South Carolina who gave a confusing reply was a contestant in the Miss Teen USA pageant, not the Miss America pageant. The times I have watched the Miss America pageant, the q and a section was pretty good, and last year the eventual winner was direct and seemed sincere to me.

I used to love it as a child: the glamour, hair, makeup, evening gowns and talent, but as an adult, I see it more along the lines of a parade of cattle being judged at a state fair. I know the contestants say there is much more to it than that - the scholarships, etc, but the judgment based on physical beauty is all the American public really sees. There should be more focus on a person's heart, soul and mind than her body. The truth of it is that there are always going to be women who love beauty pageants and for those types, they can do as they please and more power to them for trying to achieve their goals. But it isn't something I would want to participate in or allow a daughter of mine to participate in. The only reason people really want to see it these days is to hear the women make jackasses of themselves as Miss South Carolina did a few years ago when answering questions about Americans needing more education on geography. She was hilarious.

I can't say I really care. I don't see a point in it but that is half if what is on tv