Pageant
Questions
WHAT
YOU'RE ASKING
 I wear glasses.
Will that lower my chances of winning?
"I wear
glasses...They are not ugly or big, they are quite fashionable.
I was wondering if I wore my glasses while competing in a beauty
contest if they (the glasses) would lower my chances of winning?
-L..S., Texas
Answer
Pageants
are increasingly emphasizing the individuality of participants,
so, theoretically, anything is possible. Still, we cannot
site a case of a woman winning a major pageant while wearing
glasses.
 As an aside, we'll share an amusing
spectacle story: Sharon Kay Ritchie, Miss America 1956, told
us that when she competed as Miss Colorado in the Miss America
Pageant, was so nearsighted that she was concerned she might
fall off the runway. Her solution: She wore hard glass
contacts that covered the entire eyeball! Thankfully, today's
participants needn't resort to such tortuous methods.
Although
we personally would love to see a woman wearing glasses win a
major title, not all judges are as open-minded. From social science
research, we do know that glasses tend to alter how people perceive
an individual. Women who wear glasses are often seen as more
serious and intellectual and less open and friendly. Since
those impressions may be entirely off-base, wearing glasses could
cause judges to "misread" a contestant's personality
in competition. By entering a pageant and wearing glasses, you
will be able to observe how judges react. You may be pleasantly
surprised to find a positive reaction. Then again, their
reaction may not be so supportive. Since every judge is
an individual and every panel is different, there is no way to
predict a panel's response.
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