Reader's Ink discussion

Beauty Queens is very campy, ironic, and (in my opinion) brilliantly and deliberately over the top. How did this over-the-topness (might we even call it satire?) expose the conflict between the so-called ideals of femininity with selfhood of girls/young women?

The author touched on all forms of womanhood and sexuality in the book. She covered a lot of the frustrations woman are exposed to and perhaps may face in their teen and early womanhood years. I was intrigued by the sex change and then to completely view the other side with homosexuality. Interesting twists.

The campy tone was the strongest part of the book for me: it made the somewhat absurd plot work, and played into the tongue-in-cheek nature of the beauty pageant world in general (it reminded me of Miss Congeniality).

I thought Miss Texas best represented that conflict between femininity and being a strong woman, and her over-the-top descent was fantastic. I don't think her story would have worked without that campy, no-holds-barred approach.