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SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE - MARCH 2015
ontests to determine “who
is the fairest of them all” have been
around at least since ancient Greece
and the Judgment of Paris. Accord-
ing to legend, a poor mortal goatherd,
Alexandros (Paris), was called upon to
settle a dispute among the goddess-
es. Who was the most beautiful: Hera
(Juno), Aphrodite (Venus), or Athena
(Minerva) all three goddesses offered
bribes: according to the writer Apol-
lodorus, “Hera said that if she were
preferred to all women, she would give
him the kingdom over all men; and
Athena promised victory in war, and
Aphrodite the hand of Helen.” When
Paris selected Aphrodite in exchange
for getting Helen of Troy, the most
beautiful mortal of the time, he inad-
vertently started the Trojan War.
While ancient Greeks memorialized
in myth the complicated relationship
between beauty and competition,
there is no historical evidence that
they actually held contests for women.
A “contest of physique” called the Eu-
andria was held yearly at an Athenian
festival - but the contest was for men
-. European festivals dating to the me-
dieval era provide the most direct line-
age for beauty pageants. For example,
English May Day celebrations always
involved the selection of queens.
In the United States, the May Day
tradition of selecting women to serve
as symbols of bounty and community
ideals continued, as young beautiful
women participated in public celebra-
tions. When George Washington rode
from Mount Vernon to New York City
in 1789 to assume the presidency,
groups of young women dressed in
white lined his route, placing palm
branches before his carriage. General
Lafayette’s triumphant tour of the Unit-
ed States in 1826 also was greeted by
similar delegations of young women.
The first truly modern beauty con-
test, involving the display of women’s
faces and figures before judges, can
be traced to one of America’s great-
est showmen, Phineas T. Barnum
(of circus fame). In the 1850s, the
ever-resourceful Barnum owned a
“dime museum” in New York City that
catered to the growing audience for
commercial entertainment. Some of
Barnum’s most popular attractions
were “national contests” where dogs,
chickens, flowers, and even children
were displayed and judged for pay-
ing audiences. While 61,000 people
swarmed to his baby show in 1855, a
similar event the year before to select
and exhibit “the handsomest ladies”
in America proved a disappointment.
The prize - a dowry (if the winner was
single) or a diamond tiara (if the win-
ner was married) - was not enough
to lure respectable girls and women
of the Victorian era to publicly display
themselves.
Barnum developed a brilliant alter-
nate plan for a beauty contest that