How long are beauty pageants

Photos: WireImage. You know that Petra likes big hair and she cannot lie, but how about you? What do you think of all this fullness on Cheryl Cole here? The Internet is all a-buzz about the fact that Miss Delaware will be competing for the Miss America crown with unusual circumstances for a beauty pageant girl.

She'll be doing it bald. Reports have it that a 15 year-old beauty pageant winner in New Zealand lost her crown for dying her blonde hair brown. Which sounds wacky enough as it is, but, apparently, the girl, who was crowned Miss Teen Wanganu three months ago, got her title taken away via Facebook kind of.

I don't know much about the pageant world. Okay, that's a lie. Unlike Sarah over at Vitamin G, I hardcore love me some Toddlers and Tiaras, and I found myself wondering how those uber-controlling mommies of Miss-Californias-to-be would react to the news that the Miss California Pageant is doing away with both sashes and the traditionally matchy-matchy swimsuit competition.

By Tracey Lomrantz Lester. A beauty pageant for cows begins today in Ireland. Moo-ve over, Miss America. That's right, a beauty pageant for cows. No, we're not kidding. The contestants will be judged on criteria like how shapely their legs are and the proportion of their udders.

Let's just hope they all pass the all-too-important swimsuit round. Just kidding. Photo: istock. Rewards Free Stuff Promos. For the Crown. The Conversation. To compete in Miss America, contestants cannot be married , divorced , engaged , or have ever had a child. This rule was enacted after Miss America , Jacque Mercer , was married and divorced during her reign. According to The Baltimore Sun , as of , contestants must take an oath stating, "I am unmarried," and "I am not pregnant and I am not the natural or adoptive parent of any child.

Just hours after finding out she won, she ran off with her boyfriend—ridding herself of all the duties and responsibilities of the crown. People thought she was missing or had been kidnapped. It turned out, Cooper did not expect to win and did not want the limelight that comes with the title. Ever since then, New Jersey contestants believe they've been cursed by Cooper. It's hard to imagine that a little less than 50 years ago, women of color were not allowed to compete in pageants.

It wasn't until the s that women of color were given a chance to compete on the main stage alongside their white counterparts. And, up until , Miss America required contestants to trace their lineage back seven generations to prove they were percent white, according to Fox News. The racist history associated with pageants in America led African Americans and other people of color to form their own pageants where contestants would not have to worry about losing based on their ethnic background.

It wasn't until that a black woman— Vanessa Williams —became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. Bess Myerson is the only Jewish woman to ever win the title of Miss America. She won shortly after World War II in According to the Jewish Women's Archive , Myserson was even pressured to change her name to Beth Merrick to avoid people knowing she was Jewish.

But she chose not to hide her identity and became the first Jewish American woman to win the crown. Venezuela breeds beauty pageant winners. In this South American country, girls attend finishing school to learn how to walk, talk, and present themselves as a crown holder. Often, the bootcamps encourage girls to have surgery at the young age of 12, according to The Daily Mail.

The facilities are surrounded by cosmetic surgery clinics, as well. In Venezuela, some young girls even undergo hormone therapies to slow down puberty in an attempt to grow taller for beauty pageants, The Daily Mail reports. Young women also have mesh sewn onto their tongues to stop them from eating solid foods, according to the BBC. While the stage is filled with picture-perfect makeup and curls, backstage is a totally different story.

Body odor, sweaty clothes, and the stench that arises from a packed room fills the air of pageant dressing rooms. Trust me, it is not pleasant at all. Most Beautiful is not the only theme of pageants these days. Today, niche competitions exist based on size and ethnic background, too—like beauty pageants specifically for plus-size women and women of color. Contestants use "butt glue" and skin tape to keep their swimsuit bottoms in place, or to avoid revealing too much cleavage.

One thing you'll notice when watching a beauty pageant is that many contestants have incredibly tiny waists. While a lot of that can be attributed to constantly working out and dieting, it's also because of Preparation H and plastic wrap. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. Film Identities. Can beauty pageants ever be empowering? Share using Email. By Hanna Flint 10th March New movie Misbehaviour explores the infamous Miss World event from two perspectives. More like this: - 10 films to watch this March - The greatest human bond of all? Women as window dressing Certainly, the very early movies about pageants hardly showed them in a good light. Around the BBC.