Male Pageant?

There is an event held on the UW Oshkosh campus every year called Mr. UWO.  A few days ago, I attended this event for the third time since coming to Oshkosh.  For those of you who haven’t been to this before, it basically is a competition where men of UWO compete for the title of “Mr. UWO.”  In other words, it is a male pageant.  Some may argue that this shouldn't be considered a pageant because when most think of pageants, Mr. UWO is not exactly what comes to mind right away.  Now, I admit this is no where near as extravagant as the typical pageants women compete in, but nonetheless it has many of the same aspects involved, so I don't think it is fair to judge it differently simply because it is men rather than women. 

Pageants shoud not be based on gender, and I think its pretty cool to have things like this offered to men.  The men of Mr. UWO were expected to compete in multiple rounds, including formal wear, spirit wear, and talent.  Pageants are most always associated with women, and when involving women they tend to more intense and more activities involved.  This may be the case, but I feel that the more exposure people are given to pageants involving men, the less discriminatory they will be.  Many men have the idea that pageants and other events like them are not considered “manly”.  But in all reality, the men I have seen participate in pageants love the competition, as well as showing off to the crowd, and seem to thoroughly enjoy themselves.  If events such as these continue to grow in popularity, it can only help in the blurring of gender lines and lead to less discrimination of those going outside “the box” of gender.