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“Pretty Is As Pretty Does:” Child Beauty Pageants In Deep East Texas, Taryn Lenert

Undergraduate Research Conference

Introduction

Do child beauty pageants affect contestants’ perception of gender norms, gender performance, and confidence? To answer this question, three observations of pageants, three face-to-face interviews, and survey responses from two East Texas pageant Facebook groups will be analyzed through the lens of West and Zimmerman’s theoretical concept of doing gender (1987). Deep East Texas is unique due to the fact that much of its culture originates in old southern views of beauty, the norm of hyper-femininity, and the importance of traditional gender roles in both public and private life.