Swimwear in a Miss America Reboot: NPR

For the first time in almost century-old contest history, the next Miss America will not have to cross an Atlantic City scene in swimsuit and high heels during the event. Sunday.

The swimsuit section has been removed from the Miss America program, one of many changes made over the past year to update the competition, now called competition, for the modern era.

"We will no longer judge our candidates on their physical appearance," said Gretchen Carlson, the new head of the Miss America organization, in an interview with Good Morning America in June, adding that "it's huge ".

Carlson has led Miss America's modernization effort since taking over earlier this year following an email scandal that resulted in the resignation of several senior executives. Former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell and several board members were surprised denigrating female candidates using vulgar and sexual language.

Carlson was also one of the first voices in the #MeToo movement when the former news anchor sued Fox News boss Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. She then settled the lawsuit for $ 20 million.

"Many young women have told us that we would like to be part of your program, but we do not want to be in high heels and swimsuits. So, you do not know what to do? to do it more, "said Carlson told Good Morning America.Carlson won the Miss America contest in 1989. The Miss America organization declined our interview request.

Some have welcomed the changes for a long time. But there was also an immediate reaction against the removal of the iconic swimsuit section.

Critics accused Miss America of bowing to politically correct forces. Representatives from 22 state reenactments, including New Jersey, signed a letter asking Carlson and other senior officials to resign.

Last week, as the preliminary rounds of the competition began, posters appeared in Atlantic City, New Jersey, calling Carlson "so fake". Someone put a belt around the statue of Miss America on the sidewalk of the city: "Gretchen is bad".

Crystal Lee, former Miss California and first vice-champion of Miss America 2014, said the swimsuit competition was largely supported by women. "If you ask any Miss America contest participant," said Lee, "they want to wear this swimsuit".

Lee explained that she understood why the elimination of the swimwear section could facilitate the recruitment of new candidates. But she added that she did not consider old America as an attack on feminism.

"I thought that if anything in this swimsuit was a choice, being in that swimsuit made me feel like I could do something that previous generations of women did not have the privilege of doing. "said Lee.

The first historical reenactment of Miss America took place in 1921 under the name of Swimmer's Journal. Some Atlantic City businessmen have launched a commercial scheme to keep tourists in town after Labor Day.

Margot Mifflin, a professor of journalism at City University in New York, said many of Miss America's early contestants thought wearing a swimsuit in public was a form of release. Women have shown their independence by ignoring the customs of the time.

"In the preceding decade, women had to cover themselves completely, and at the beginning of the century they wore woolen clothes, like city clothes in the water," said Mifflin. "There were even those devices called bath machines, where they would go into these small mobile units and where someone would push them into the water and then they would jump out to not be seen."

But over time, as women struggled for greater equality in public and private life, some people suffered from swimsuits.

In 1968, a group of protestors picketed outside Miss America in Atlantic City, saying it was anti-feminist to objectify the candidates. One of the protesters compared the show to a cattle auction. What was once an act of liberation for women was now considered an affront to feminism and equality.

Nevertheless, the swimsuit competition continued. Until this year.

What this means for the Miss America audience is still unknown. Mifflin said that the most memorable piece of Miss America could perhaps wave goodbye to viewers.

"This year will determine, at the very least, do people want to watch a Miss America where they do not see women in swimsuits?" she says. "And if they do, what will they watch for?"