Miss Sweden and Miss Universe

Tomorrow, I will be blogging about Miss Universe, but tonight, I wanted to discuss the whole saga of Sweden pulling out of the Miss Universe pageant. I think Sweden's position is comical, at best. Spokespeople for the Miss Sweden pageant said that the Miss Universe pageant degrades women. In my opinion, judging is still judging, no matter what the criteria. Whether you're being judged on your looks or your I.Q. they are qualities that you are born with, not that you cultivate, so what is the difference. But that is a different story. My position about pageants aside, how did Miss Sweden get to be Miss Sweden? By winning a pageant. So isn't it hypocritical to say that one pageant is sexist and another is not? Granted, Miss Sweden dropped the swimsuit competition and succumbed to pressure from feminists to accept applications for the position as they would for any other job, but it's still ultimately a pageant. The winner, Isabel Lestapier Winqvist, is a statuesque blonde. Not a short, dumpy Nobel Prize winner. She may be brilliant, gifted and compassionate, but that is not really the point of these competitions. Maybe pageants are obsolete - who knows? - I still enjoy watching them. But I do think the Swedish officials need to rethink their stance on this subject, and if they want to ban pageants, they should start by banning their own.