It’s been many years since I watched the Miss America pageant. It’s been many years since I stopped pretending to buy into the pageant’s conceit that it wasn’t about parading pretty girls in bathing suits. No, it was about education. Remember that?
For me, it was a cultural phenomenon over which I could wax sardonic, even as I choose my favorite candidate and rooted for her. Culture is so complex, isn’t it?
The DailyKos has just informed me that our newly crowned Miss America (who happens to be Miss New York) actually has a brain under the crown, and a life apart from a bathing suit.
And extreme right wingers are going nuts, because: Conservatives howl over Miss America’s Planned Parenthood internship, which begins:
The new Miss America, Kira Kazantsev, isn’t necessarily what you’d expect. She volunteered for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign. Asked what issue women in the Senate should be particularly focused on, she spoke about military sexual assault—with a shout-out to Gillibrand. She’s spoken out about having been in an abusive relationship in college. And there’s something else, something making Kazantsev the target of conservative venom: She interned with Planned Parenthood “where she supported staff members who provide sex education in the community and at local schools.”
The horror!
Miss America is going to be attending law school. Good for her and I hope she keeps good causes in her life. And since she worked on Gilligrand’s campaign, I’m pretty sure she won’t be voting for conservatives, who are not voting for us women.