Miss America to scrap its swimsuit competition - and not everyone is pleased
Miss America's swimsuit competition will soon be no more so allow us to welcome you to 2018, the year of: 'Shouldn't that have happened literally years ago?'
That's right, the swimsuit competition, which actually launched the pageant's inaugural contest, is being scrapped according to Miss America Organisation chair Gretchen Carlson.
Carlson announced this change, which is one of many, on Good Morning America.
She revealed the title of Miss America will no longer be fought for in the form of a pageant, but instead as a 'competition'.
Carlson said during the interview:
We’ve heard from a lot of young women who say: ‘We’d love to be a part of your program but we don’t want to be out there in high heels and a swimsuit'.
So guess what? You don’t have to do that anymore. You’re welcome. Please, come join us.
Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host, has been a strong advocate for the Me Too movement. She sued the late Fox News founder Rodger Ailes for sexual harassment and she is also the first former Miss America to chair the organisation.
Carlson won the Miss America title for Minnesota in 1989 and became chair after emails from the organisation's leadership uncovered misogynistic language.
There are hopes the change will make the competition more inclusive of women who might have been deterred by judging of women's physiques specifically.
The official Miss America Twitter released a video of a white bikini going up in smoke with the hashtag #byebyebikini.
Naturally, users on social media had a lot of thoughts on the news:
Of course, there were those who opposed the change:
The next Miss America competition is September 9 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The changes to Miss America won't be implemented until 2019.