Swimsuit

The swimsuit is the most demoralizing part of the pageant in my mind.  Girls and women parading around a stage scantily clad so a panel of judges can examine your body and determine if you are what they deem 'beautiful'.  All the questions going through my head were being said by the other girls as we got ready.  'Am I thin enough?' "Did I eat to much for lunch today?' "Do I look bloated?' 'Are my legs too jiggly?'  I think this is absurd!  These girls are between 17 and 24 and are incredibly thin; of course you look beautiful, of course you are thin enough if not too thin, of course you did NOT eat enough for lunch, of course you don't look bloated, if anything you look anorexic, and finally Yes, your legs jiggle because you are human and if they didn't you'd be DEAD!  It makes me so mad that society does this to people, having this unhealthy image of what you should look like, and having pageants where strangers who have no bearing what soever in your life judge you based on how close you are to looking like Barbie yet I am just as affected by this as every single other girl that was backstage with me.

One girl said she spoke to her dad about how he felt about her strutting her stuff in a swimsuit on stage and her dad told her 'you worked hard for that body, flaunt it!'.  It made me sick.  Flaunt your body?  Your dad wants you to dress and behave in a sexually provocative way on stage in front of tons of people?  I just want to give that girl a hug and tell her that she is beautiful and that she doesn't need to flaunt her body to get attention or love or recognition or self-confidence or whatever it is that she is seeking in competing in pageants week in and week out.

Anyway, enough of my pedestal.  Please let your daughters know they are loved, they are beautiful, that modesty does not diminish their beauty or popularity but adds to it.  Modesty gives them mystery.

Felicity