“I AM a Feminist, but…”: Feminist Self-labeling, White Feminism, and Pageantry in the United States

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Shifting definitions of feminism and their potential relationship to previously identified feminist self-labeling outcomes suggest the need to further interrogate understandings of feminism. Furthermore, studies suggest that ethnicity and race impact feminist identities. As beauty pageant participants represent public femininity and have a complicated history with race, they are a valuable locus for analyzing evolving definitions of and (dis)identification with feminism(s). This analysis considers how 27 white, cis-gender women U.S. pageant participants engage with feminism and feminist identities. Findings show how participants understand potential tensions between feminist discourses and the embodied realities of their pageant participation. They often use white feminist discourse and ideals to reconcile their feminist self-labeling and pageant participation in ways that may be co-opting feminist norms. The analysis also highlights how participants qualify and contextually shift their feminist self-labeling. Implications of this qualitative analysis for theorizing and engaging with feminism and feminist self-labeling are discussed.