Can pageants be saved?

No, not really. Parading women around in revealing attire, pitting them against each other for approval and attention, and then declaring an actual "winner" is a concept virtually impossible to redeem. You don't have to be "woke" to realize they don't do much for the dignity of women. The only meaningful difference between a beauty pageant and a livestock competition is how much sawdust is on the floor.

Attempts to claim beauty pageants are really "talent competitions" are cute, and all, but they fool about as many people as Ken "blow away COVID" Copeland does when he labels his career as "ministry." In fairness, pageants might be "saved" by admitting what they really are: superficial contests over ultimately subjective standards. Even then, it's just not a good look. Redemption is possible for a lot of things and a lot of people—even pagans can be saved, but only if they turn from what's false to what's true. "Saving" pageants pretty much means abandoning them altogether.

That all applies to grown-up pageants. Get kids involved? Uh, no. No, and no again, and then "no please" with a side of "nope." Expertise in early childhood development isn't required to realize no five-year-old needs to look like a runway model who went through Willy Wonka's teleporting camera. Caking makeup on a pre-teen is not redeemable, but a good baptism-by-immersion, in cold cream and some normal clothes, might be a start.

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