OPINION:
Enough already. I am a staunch conservative, loyal supporter of and even ambassador for The Washington Times. But why is it necessary to waste editorial space to take a swipe at women (“The new Miss America,” Web, June 5)?
I am so very tired of pageants like the Miss America Pageant, which encourage women to demean themselves by dressing like high-class prostitutes while men drool over them as sexual objects, not caring at all about their opinions, capabilities or abilities. Why is there no Mr. America Pageant? Oh, of course — because most men would not want to so objectify themselves while receiving no financial incentives to do so.
It is distressing that in our current times very capable men such as Charles Hurt and Wes Pruden, who so often demonstrate their great insight with well-developed columns, believe that editorial space should be used to bemoan the loss of beauty pageants and to not so subtly suggest that the antithesis of female beauty is slovenliness.
Best solution: Cancel the silly pageant altogether. What was acceptable in the 1950s and 1960s long ago ceased to be entertaining to at least half the population.
ELLAN R. HYLTON
Fort Myers, Fla.
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