Feminism in an unlikely place — a transgender beauty pageant


Ranking women on their looks seems like a step back for feminism. But for Los Angeles' transgender community, pageants can be a sign of progress.


By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2012


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-linthicum-queen-usa-20120804,0,5674071.story



From left, Miss New York, Miss Oklahoma, Miss Wyoming, Miss West Virginia, Miss Tennessee and Miss California pose for the cameras after the Miss Queen USA pageant at the Circus Disco in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Queen USA calls itself "the premier transgender beauty pageant in the United States." (Ariana van den Akker, Los Angeles Times / July 30, 2012)


A little before noon last Sunday, I pulled up outside a nightclub in Hollywood.

I had come to check out rehearsals for a beauty pageant being staged that night at Circus Disco, a kitschy bar tucked back from the street on an unglamorous stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard.

The idea of ranking women on their looks had always seemed objectionable, like a step backward from feminism. But this pageant sounded special. The Queen USA contest is billed as "the premier transgender beauty pageant in the United States."

Beautifully written article.