Carrie Prejean—Another Bimbo makes Headlines

I don’t like beauty pageants and I wasn’t watching the 2009 Miss USA contest when former Miss California, Carrie Prejean, in a game-changing moment, flubbed the question regarding her opinion on gay marriage. Her answer was so incoherent; one might have been tempted to feel sorry for her if it were not for the fact that Carrie Prejean is a Bimbo by choice, not circumstance. It was she who made the choice to remain ignorant, put all of her eggs in the beauty-myth basket, and make a fool of herself by not knowing how to answer simple questions.

I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn’t get breast implants. - Carrie Prejean

Carrie Prejean is not from an underprivileged background and has attended college—San Diego Christian College, an evangelical private school located in El Cajon, California. Therefore, she should be able to speak coherent sentences. Pageant judge, Perez Hilton, asked whether she believed every U.S. State should legalize same-sex marriage. And she responded:

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman."

Now, of course Carrie Prejean is entitled to her opinion, however, there are consequences when the answer is wrong. Here are the laws regarding same-sex or gay marriage taken from Wikipedia,

“The federal government of the United States does not recognize the marriages of same sex couples and is prohibited from doing so by the Defense of Marriage Act. Nationwide, four states have legalized same-sex marriage as a result of a court ruling, while three others have done so through a vote in their respective state legislatures. New York and the District of Columbia do not grant but recognize legal out-of-state same-sex marriages. In California, same-sex marriage was legal from June to November 2008, after the California Supreme Court held the statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the state constitution; but the California electorate then approved a voter initiative that reinstated the ban on same-sex marriage as part of the constitution. Marriages performed during the period remain legally valid.”

So, while Carrie announced that she thinks it’s great that in the land of the free, that offers civil rights to all, and where there is clear separation of church and state, gays can legally marry, she’s wrong. And, for her to be so unaware of the facts, when California was in the midst of a raging debate over the issue, is astonishing. Carrie, who was 1^st runner up in the pageant, lost, but quickly became the center of a number of controversies. The religious right quickly heralded her as their spokesperson on family values and all things good and pure, claiming she was being penalized for her traditional viewpoint. The left, of course, laughed at her comment and wrote it off as another zinger by a crazy right winger. I mean, we had just lived through Sarah Palin and Katie Couric, and were getting used to it.

So, why did Carrie Prejean go on the Larry King Live Show?

It turned out that Carrie Prejean’s defining moment in the pageant started a wave of controversy that has since created a chain reaction of polarization and media attention, most recently leading to her appearance on Larry King Live, where she acted as if she were being interviewed by an annoying 15 yr. old boy who was trying to cop a feel, rather than Larry King, who has interviewed Al Gore, Barack Obama, and heads of state internationally. You would think Carrie would finally understand she has to answer questions. In a condescending tone, when asked to explain details on current legal disputes regarding breach of contracts, using pageant money for breast implants, and the current “sex-tapes scandal,” Carrie said with righteous indignation, “Larry, you’re being inappropriate.” When a caller, who happened to be a gay man, respectfully asked a question (listen to video below), as is the program’s format and should be expected, Carrie proceeded to remove her microphone and walk away from the table. My question to Carrie is, “If you don’t want to answer questions, why are you on Larry King live?”

Now Carrie is whining that her rights to “freedom of speech,” have been violated. Apparently, she feels whenever she speaks her mind, she gets a great deal of unpleasant feedback and things don’t go her way. Well, to my knowledge, no one has arrested her, put her in jail, or sent her to Syria. She has never spent a day in jail or been fined. She speaks her mind (however muddled), and like all public figures, must take the heat. Just because she is pretty, does not make her above the laws of publicity, immune to harsh criticism, protect her from the law, or make her beloved. It does not shield her from being called on her hypocrisy, as in claiming to be for “Christian family values,” while breaking contracts, posing nude, and producing sex tapes.

Exploitation in the beauty industry – it often starts in childhood.

Many years ago, a wonderful woman I admire said to me, “I can no longer live by my tits; I have to live by my wits.” I quote these words of wisdom because I’ve never forgotten the underlying message. As a crone myself, I advise all women to go to school, get smart, and develop their talents and skills. Don’t rely on youth and beauty to take you to the finish line. I know whatever outer beauty we possess eventually fades, and we need to have an inner life.

There is nothing more unnatural than those beauty pageants for little girls who are taught to act like sexy women, and teach girls their most valuable asset is looking attractive. Putting pressure on children to be attractive and perform is abusive and sets them up for a variety of problems later, such as: low self-esteem, anorexia, and bulimia, and depression. Such contests, promote stereotypical concepts of attractiveness that are grotesque caricatures of beauty. Instead of playing and learning to cooperate with other girls, these girls see peers as competitors in an industry that sexualizes children. And instead of being allowed to just be kids, much of their childhood is filled with the worst values of the adult world. I consider entering children into these contests exploitation and inconsistent with a child's natural development. In a society where sexual abuse of children is out of control, these events can put children at risk. These children are victims.

It's possible Carrie Prejean was once pushed or brainwashed to follow the call of the beauty industry and lost her way. However, at some point, the Carrie Prejean’s of the world need to wake up and see what everyone else does—they may have succeeded in looking like Barbie, but if that is all they’ve got going, they should stay out of the limelight because they will get called out big time.