Rachel Rippetoe |
What do you get when you take a beauty pageant, rid it of fancy dresses, high heels and cutthroat competition, and add thought-provoking conversation about the progress of women?
According to seniors Britta Geisler and Irene Sutton, you get a BeYou-ty Pageant.
At 6:30 p.m. on April 9 in Shiley 301, students can join in on a discussion about the empowerment of women with a group of influential female panelists at UP’s first ever BeYou-ty pageant.
Around the time of the 64th annual Miss World Pageant in December of 2014, Geisler was reading articles about ridding the pageant of its swimsuit portion – or maybe just ridding the world of pageants once and for all.
Geisler thought about the positive female role models in her life and realized that pageants have more potential than some give them credit for.
“I thought about it more and more, and it would be neat to have a meeting with women from all across the world where they can share a conversation about the progression of women and the problems they’re facing,” Geisler said.
Geisler sought to make this a reality on a local level as she reconnected with her friend and fellow business major Irene Sutton, who spoke with Geisler about their shared vision of bringing powerful women together and overturning the idea of a beauty pageant.
The two business majors carefully drew out a plan to bring local and inspiring women together as panelists to discuss female progress and the issues facing women today.
There is no competition aspect to Geisler and Sutton’s “pageant.” The two decided to call the event a pageant as a way to get the attention of their classmates and to make a statement about pageants today.
Instead the “pageant” works more as a discussion amongst four women in the Portland area that have challenged the traditional idea of beauty. The panelists will introduce themselves and then be posed a series of questions to discuss. At the end, the audience can ask questions and make their own remarks about beauty and women in the media.
While most pageants focus on beauty in the form of appearance, Sutton and Geisler have a different definition: “One who is happy with who they are and dedicated to spreading their confidence and knowledge to empower others.”
“We have some questions to just provoke people to think about how the media is portraying women right now,” Sutton said. “What do they think about beauty? How are their ventures flipping the concept of a woman on its head?”
Two former UP E-Scholars will be on the panel: Danielle Knott, executive director of Render: Feminist Food & Culture Quarterly and Lynn Le, founder of Society Nine, a women's sportswear company. Other panelists include Cheryl Green, a disabilities activist who created "Storyminders," and Brandy Machado, who directs a nonprofit that teaches girls leadership and confidence through skateboarding.
Geisler has a special connection to Machado.
She has been a volunteer coach and skater for “Skate Like a Girl” since the program returned to Portland a year and a half ago. She coaches beginners ranging from 4-year-old girls to 40-year-old mothers.
“For a long time, (skateboarding) was not seen as something that [girls] can be apart of,” Geisler said, “You identify with your role models sometimes by the way they look. If you see someone that looks like you, you can kind of imagine yourself doing what they’re doing. That’s why it’s important to see girls skateboarding.”
Sutton and Geisler believe that Machado and the other panelists embody their new definition of beauty.
Both students strive to achieve this definition of beauty as well, but admit that they still catch themselves subscribing to a more traditional appearance-based beauty.
“I can’t say that I’m immune to the preconditioned ideas of beauty that I’ve grown up with,” Geisler said. “But I need to remember what beauty means to me and how I feel when I experience beauty from someone else. Not their appearance but their confidence and their dedication to sharing that confidence with other people.”
Both students hope that the BeYou-ty pageant will influence others to start their own pageants focused on action rather than appearance.
According to Sutton, other students have already approached her about taking over the event after she and Geisler graduate.
Geisler and Sutton hope to pass on their marketing materials and guidance not only to students at UP but to students in colleges and high schools all over the country.
Geisler says that their ultimate goal is to get the attention of the Miss World pageant and possibly reshape the entire idea of pageants into something more constructive.
This is why their slogan for the event is “Beauty is Purpose,” riffing on Miss World’s slogan of “Beauty with a Purpose.”
“Personally, I think that if you’re doing something positive in your life and just trying to put positive things out into the world, then that’s what makes you beautiful,” Sutton said.
Rachel Rippetoe is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at rippetoe18@up.edu
