CHRIS ROPER WRITES "we need to demand accountability of beauty pageant contestants and governments alike. And consistency in their application of principle." Roper's views are decidedly patriarchal, old-fashioned, and redolent of gentlemen clubs and men's magazines. He thus appears to garner his...

THE MISS UNIVERSE pageant was not the subject of a boycott when it was held in apartheid South Africa. In fact, the oft referred to event never occurred, and was never scheduled. Our country does not appear as a location on the list of Miss Universe pageants held every year since 1952 — except fo...

IN 1978 Margaret Gardener won the Miss Universe beauty pageant. The event held in Acapulco was not without controversy. John Vorster was president of a white minority regime. Apartheid was in full sway. Nelson Mandela was in jail. The Miss South Africa competition was an all-white affair. I was i...