Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion on Chicago, Illinois and America

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Biography: Aaron Hanania
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics
    • Two Guys on Politics
    • Hanania on Tiktok
  • News Wire
  • Archive 2004-2013
  • Toggle search form
  • Hastings insurance legislation
    Hastings announces legislation to ensure fair homeowners insurance rates for Illinois families Business
  • Mahnoor Ahmad campaign photo
    Mahnoor Ahmad runs for DuPage County Board seat Democrat
  • Sunday, October 26, the Village of Orland Park formally rededicated its Village Hall in honor of the late former Mayor Fredrick T. Owens
    Village of Orland Park Rededicates Village Hall in Honor of Late Former Mayor Fredrick T. Owens Government
  • Fire at townhome at 13900 block of Berkhansted Court in Orland Park, just before midnight on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025
    Firefighter treated for dehydration battling townhouse fire in Orland Park – no residents injured Fire
  • Firefighters with the Orland Fire Protection District who responded to a fire in an apartment at 15200 block of Al Camino Terrace on Saturday morning said the next day that they did find a kitten that needed respiratory aid that they saved.
    FIRE UPDATE: Fire District releases photos of kitten saved from Orland Park apartment fire Saturday Features
  • two-story apartment building on the 15200 block of El Camino Terrace in Orland Park
    Orland Park apartment fire Saturday morning, no injuries Fire
  • Illinois Senator Michael Hastings addressing the Orland Township Democratic Organization Wednesday Oct. 12, 2022
    Hastings calls for bipartisan action to protect Illinois families from SNAP benefit shutdown Baby Boomers
  • Illinios Industrial Energy Consumers, information ad
    Get information on the Illinois Energy Omnibus Bill in Springfield Business
  • State Senator Mike Porfirio secured over $20 million to support infrastructure improvements and construction in the 11th Senate District.
    Senator Porfirio applauds more than $20 million in infrastructure repairs coming to the 11th District News
  • Dad and daughter reunited Lebving Law firm photo
    Little Girl Recovered and Reunited with Dad After Long Separation Dads' Rights
  • 11-03-25 OFPD Coffee living alone
    Orland Fire hosts meeting on helping Seniors who live alone Nov. 5 Baby Boomers
  • State Senator Michael Hastings introduces law to revive long dormant and degraded Tinley Park Mental Health Center into a Sports Park for the community. Photo courtesy of the State Senate President Don Harmon
    Hastings secures $250,000 grant for Easterseals Academy’s Tinley Park campus Health
  • Chicago ranks as 161st worst city for crime in new national survey Chicago
  • Kat Abughazaleh 9th DIstrict Congress 2026 candidate democrat
    Kat Abughazaleh raises over $520,000 in Q2 of 2025 with more than $630,000 cash on hand for 2026 Democratic primary election elections
  • Silent Threat: The True Dangers of Lithium-Ion Batteries — How to Stay Safe and Respond to a Battery Fire Fire
Woman in a berqa (burka) By Hans Braxmeier (pixabay) [CC0 or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Beauty pageants without swimsuits, weather without beautiful women

Posted on June 15, 2018November 29, 2019 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Beauty pageants without swimsuits, weather without beautiful women
SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  

Beauty pageants without swimsuits, weather without beautiful women

Beauty pageants are just that, about beauty. It doesn’t mean other people are ugly. It means that there are some who are more beautiful. The others only become ugly when we stigmatize the beautiful as being “obscene” and we start to implement politically correct ideas to make everyone “equal.” Unfortunately, not everyone is equal. But not being equal doesn’t mean everyone is bad. If they eliminate the swimsuits, I won’t waste my time watching Miss America

By Ray Hanania

Ray HananiaI used to buy Playboy Magazine when I was young because I enjoyed the well-researched articles.

Well, that’s not true.

It’s also not true that I’ll continue to watch the Miss America contest this Fall if it goes ahead with plans to eliminate the Swimsuit Competition.

The Miss America organization announced it will no longer judge contestants, all women, on physical appearance, eliminating Swimsuits. Instead, it wants to emphasize scholastic achievement, creative accomplishments, healthy living and community involvement in is contestants

Suddenly, this for-profit business wants to become Harvard University?

Why just eliminate swimsuits? Let’s eliminate gender discrimination and include men, too. Make it the “America Competition.” Put housewives, men, old people, and anyone on the “Miss America” stage?

Woman in a berqa (burka) By Hans Braxmeier (pixabay) [CC0 or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Woman in a berqa (burka) By Hans Braxmeier (pixabay) [CC0 or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Why? Because it won’t work. Everyday people with everyday lives like to look at beautiful things.

The “Miss America” competition was created precisely to use beauty as a way to boost up business sales. The first Miss America pageant was in September 1920 and involved Atlantic City businessmen pushing 350 wicker chairs carrying beautiful women dressed in various attractive clothing to boost their business sales.

Funny. People, especially men, like to look at beautiful women. In fact, I bet, it’s not just men who like to look at beautiful women. Women do, and it’s not about sex. Lots of women like to look at beautiful – handsome – men, too!

Miss America wants people to think that appreciating physical beauty is shameful and degenerate? Why not just parade all the Miss America women in berqas (burkas) (full coverings, not hijabs)? Why even see their faces, then?

Why doesn’t every TV news station in America hire overweight, ugly people to read the news?

You think beauty isn’t a mandatory criteria for Television? Or movies? Or advertising sales marketing? TV stations aren’t selling news. They are selling sex. Otherwise, we would see businesses using overweight manikins with unattractive features sell their clothing, food, computers, iPhones and then profit.

The simple truth is most overweight people – me included – don’t want to aspire to weight gain. Seeing “beauty” motivates us to be better. That creates a chain reaction that extends to personal achievement and higher education.

“Looking good” motivates people. We wake in the morning, take a shower, put on nice clothing, sprinkle ourselves with perfume or aftershave, style our hair, add makeup, and then smile because we feel good.

Imagine, if we eliminated that from our society and everyone just got up and went to work never showering, never washing their clothes, never combing their hair, never brushing their teeth. That’s exactly the message Miss America is sending to the world by eliminating swimsuits.

What? People who stink aren’t good enough for you, Miss “too good for the rest of us” America Competition?”

I get that some people think beauty pageants are disgusting and appalling. They are offended that women are paraded around like cattle in a meat-market, judged on their “beauty.”

But if a woman wants to compete in that environment, and millions or men AND women want to watch women parade around in bikinis, why not? Suddenly there’s something wrong with it because a handful of activists are offended by perfection in the human image? They want to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not.

If I wanted to watch a program where people are judged for their intelligence, I’ll rent a Yale University Graduation Video. I’m not going to waste my time watching this year’s “Miss America” pageant.

Take “beauty” out of “beauty pageants” and watch advertising dollars disappear. Had those Atlantic City businessmen put old men in those wicker chairs hoping to bring attention to their businesses, maybe the city would just be a dirty swamp today.

If I want to enjoy something that looks beautiful, I’m not going to allow some shallow activist into shaming me into turning away from looking at a beautiful woman or enjoying the beauty all around us. A bird. A Frank Lloyd Wright home. A magnificent painting. Or, Cheryl Scott doing the weather on WLS TV each morning. It’s the only time I pay attention to the weather report. And I’m glad I do.

(Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author, and former Chicago City Hall reporter. Reach him at his personal website at www.Hanania.com or email him at [email protected].)

newswire info
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • Hastings announces legislation to ensure fair homeowners insurance rates for Illinois families - October 29, 2025
  • Mahnoor Ahmad runs for DuPage County Board seat - October 29, 2025
  • Village of Orland Park Rededicates Village Hall in Honor of Late Former Mayor Fredrick T. Owens - October 29, 2025
NPV: 62
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  
 
 
 
           
Blogger, Commentary, Entertainment, General Topics, Opinion, rayhanania, Television, women Tags:beauty pageants, burka, equality, Miss America, politically correct, sex, sex sells, sexualization, swimsuit competition

Post navigation

Previous Post: Lipinski hosts 3 events, Town Hall Meeting, Veterans Fair and Senior Fairs
Next Post: Quad Cities plans fireworks and celebrations for this year’s 4th of July

Related Posts

  • Illinois Holocaust Museum
    Illinois Holocaust Museum wins Architecture Award, named one of state’s 200 Great Places Features
  • Springfield Thunderbirds take Game 1 of Calder Cup Finals from Chicago Wolves
    Springfield Thunderbirds take first game of Calder Cup Finals against Chicago Wolves Chicago
  • Garage damaged by fire in Orland Park. Photo courtesy of the Orland Fire Protection District
    Fire causes serious damage to Orland Home, residents safe Fire
  • Chicago Wolves lose to Toronto Marlies in overtime at AllState Arena Nov. 14, 2021
    Lyon, Chicago Wolves blank Milwaukee Chicago
  • Lethal injection room, San Quentin Prison. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    CBS’ Gayle King should be fired and vicious murderers should be put to death Blogger
  • The Berlin Cleopatra, a Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem, mid-1st century BC (around the time of her visits to Rome in 46–44 BC), discovered in an Italian villa along the Via Appia and now located in the Altes Museum in Germany. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Was Cleopatra Black or White and why it matters Blogger

More Related Articles

A Pray Book by Author Jeffrey Wolfson Author Jeffrey Wolfson Publishes A Prayer Book: Reflections for a Shared, Sacred World Books & Films
Chicago Wolves Artyom Serikov courtesy of the Chicago Wolves Strong rally lifts Chicago Wolves to victory over Grand Rapids Griffins Chicago
Wolves Hockey player #18 TJ Tynan from Orland Park on the ice at the Allstate Arena. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania. First-Place Wolves roll in San Antonio Entertainment
Orland Park Village Hall. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania 2nd Coronavirus case slams Orland Park Village government Blogger
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas Change in law lets tax breaks automatically renew for homeowners with disabilities Blogger
Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale 1800. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Right from the Middle, Religious Freedom under attack Bill Lipinski

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID
  • OPINION
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Your Mortgage Company May Pay Your Taxes — But You Still Need to Watch
    October 17, 2025
  • Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio Show small
    The Politicization of the Nobel Peace Prize — and Trump’s Fury Over Losing Again
    October 11, 2025
  • 06-04-25 Two Guys on Politics Background Zoom LOGO with images
    Video Podcast: Trump Kimmel Kirk Great American Divide Illegal Aliens polling and Illegal Aliens and ICE
    September 20, 2025
  • Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch speaking at a West Side affordable housing dedication
    Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, one of the best candidates to become Illinois Governor
    September 7, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    What You’re Missing on Your Property Tax Bill
    September 5, 2025
Subscribe to Ray Hanania's column graphic

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png

Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio

  • NEWS
  • Hastings insurance legislation
    Hastings announces legislation to ensure fair homeowners insurance rates for Illinois families
    October 29, 2025
  • Mahnoor Ahmad campaign photo
    Mahnoor Ahmad runs for DuPage County Board seat
    October 29, 2025
  • Sunday, October 26, the Village of Orland Park formally rededicated its Village Hall in honor of the late former Mayor Fredrick T. Owens
    Village of Orland Park Rededicates Village Hall in Honor of Late Former Mayor Fredrick T. Owens
    October 29, 2025
  • Fire at townhome at 13900 block of Berkhansted Court in Orland Park, just before midnight on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025
    Firefighter treated for dehydration battling townhouse fire in Orland Park – no residents injured
    October 28, 2025
  • Firefighters with the Orland Fire Protection District who responded to a fire in an apartment at 15200 block of Al Camino Terrace on Saturday morning said the next day that they did find a kitten that needed respiratory aid that they saved.
    FIRE UPDATE: Fire District releases photos of kitten saved from Orland Park apartment fire Saturday
    October 26, 2025
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO RAY HANANIA'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS


Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Categories

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme