We would be wrong to consider beauty pageants as something banal, since the first one known was responsible for the Trojan War. The goddess of discord , Eris , who had not been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she threw among the guests a golden apple with the inscription:« For the most beautiful " ("discord's Apple"). Three goddesses disputed it:Hera , wife of Zeus; Athena , her unmarried daughter, goddess of wisdom and war; and Aphrodite , goddess of love. Knowing that she had everything to lose, Zeus did not want to get wet and decided that it was Paris , son of Priam, king of Troy, who made the decision. The three goddesses tried to bribe him:Hera offered him her power; Athena, wisdom; and Aphrodite, to the most beautiful woman in the world (Helena). Paris gave the apple to the latter -after all, even in mythology, two tits throw more than two carts-, so Hera and Athena, upset at not being chosen, began to plot the destruction of Troy.
Leaving aside mythology and returning to the real world, beauty pageants began to proliferate like mushrooms in the second half of the 20th century. Any territorial area (country, community, municipality or village), guild or fair had its own contest in which a jury chose the most beautiful of the place. Because, except for some demanding questions from a member of the jury to gauge her cultural level, the only thing that mattered was her external appearance... until X-rays began to be used .
In 1955, in Alabama (USA), the World Posture Queen, was convened a beauty contest in which women had to be imposing on the outside (beauty and elegance) and on the inside (X-rays). The promoter of this initiative was the National Chiropractic Association (National Association of Chiropractors) and financing was provided by mattress companies (their product ensured proper posture when resting). In those years, chiropractors tried to get legal recognition for their practices -focused on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of spinal disorders, based on the belief that spinal conditions affect health in general-, and they thought that a good way to achieve such recognition and popularize their curative and preventive methods was to hold a beauty contest in which the x-ray of the spine of the contestants scored 50%. The remaining 50%... the usual.
Parallel to the success of that unusual contest -it spread throughout the country and even the 1967 winner was invited to visit the White House-, the chiropractors' message was permeating society and, above all, the federal authorities who legalized their practices. Goal achieved, the National Chiropractic Association she understood that there was no longer any point in continuing that expensive promotion, and in 1969, for the good of the participants, the last “inner” beauty pageant was held in Chattanooga (Tennessee). And I say for the good of the participants, because in those days the levels of radiation received by the body due to continuous exposure to X-rays were not taken into account, nor was it a concern.
Jury examining a contestant's spine