An Awesome Town in Argentina Just Banned Beauty Pageants for Being Sexist and Damaging to Women

Miss Argentina beauty pageant — (Image credit: Getty Images)

A small town in Argentina just became the first in the country to ban beauty pageants. The town of Chivilcoy, which is near Buenos Aires, slammed the competitions as "sexist" and detrimental to women everywhere.

According to the BBC, officials argued that pageants encourage women to be obsessed with physical beauty and can lead to eating disorders. The ban only applies to town-run events, but officials urged private companies to steer clear of pageants as well.

The Argentina Independent notes that beauty pageants are a tradition in many towns across the country; each picks a "queen" to reign for a full year. Instead of judging young women on their appearance, the beauty pageants will be replaced by activities like mask competitions and prizes for volunteering and good citizenship.

This ban comes right after the Miss World pageant announced it was nixing its swimsuit competition, because it didn't have a clear "purpose." Looks like the Chivilcoy council thought the same about beauty pageants as a whole.

Megan Friedman is the former managing editor of the Newsroom at Hearst. She's worked at NBC and Time, and is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.