quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
If we get rid of beauty pageants, we won't have this problem anymore.

Bing, bing, bing!

Many practices lasted for a long time because they served "some useful purpose to SOME population."

Slavery, for instance.

Persistence isn't a measure of social desirability or even of efficiency.

Yeah, so what’s the useful purpose and who is the benefiting population?

Just money for just the pageant organizers? Seems too “small” to support the practice for so long.

I'll let the women here weigh in on the benefiting population, and the sociologists can weigh in on the long history of patriarchal society.

That doesn't leave room for men who are not sociologists to weigh in.

By the way, there's a little cultural phenomenon occurring tomorrow if you want to analyze other activities that have had a primarily male audience.

Big Al

quote:

That doesn't leave room for men who are not sociologists to weigh in.

Indeed ... ahhahhaa!

From Big Al,

quote:

a primarily male audience.

Do you think the audience for beauty pageants is primarily male? Serious question, because I would imagine that the female portion of the audience isn't that small??

But I have no idea.

Re P*D's comment

quote:

I'll let the women here weigh in on the benefiting population

I don't think women -- or men -- benefit from beauty pageants. There's money changing hands of course, so those people derive that benefit.

But ultimately no one benefits from the beauty standards that pageants uphold.

quote:

But ultimately no one benefits from the beauty standards that pageants uphold.

... which is one of the responses I anticipated!