Comment / By Farrah S. / June 30, 1:19 a.m.

This is a fundraiser is it not? Are they defaming the losers of the pageant? This article is the biggest news story in the redwoods?More like a joke and a half. Barbies? Research? This author did a copy paste job from google if I have ever seen one. This article makes it sound like if you are attractive you love beauty, if you are smart you don’t. Come one. It is as bias as they come. The Wildberries guy knowingly donates to pageants. The only difference is they are annual PRIDE Pageants. Hypocritical

Comment / By Jennifer Savage / June 30, 7:08 a.m.

Interesting crop job on the photo — is that intentional?

Thinking on the rest of it…

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 8:38 a.m.

@Jennifer: No, the crop job is not intentional. Nor do I know how to change it. Apologies.

Comment / By Rose K. / June 30, 8:43 a.m.

I feel that Humboldt County has far worse issues to consider than this story. It must be a slow week. With that being said, people get themselves involved in many social activities for various reasons. The girls entering the contest wish to show off their features they feel good about and they seem to feel excited about it. People should be allowed to participate in events they feel good about. If they know it’s all in good fun and they get a kick out of it, then who cares? They should be allowed to enjoy life, learn from their experiences and maybe win some cash and get some work of it. Now, if these girls are doing it for the wrong reasons and they enter the contest with deeper issues, they were going to have body/emotional issues regardless. This pageant is just a pageant, females should be given the opportunity to participate without fear or prejudice. Sponsors should consider this or any contest with enthusiasm and with the benefit of the doubt. Ladies, go ahead and do your thing…enjoy life and if you don’t win- just make sure you were having fun while you were doing it. I feel that one does not have to necessarily agree with pageants, but should support females making their own choices. As far as this author is concerned, the story is a bit dramatic…

Comment / By Pat / June 30, 9:33 a.m.

“Visually liberated”, REALLY? All this article has managed to do is remove the pressures of looking one way and replaced them with the pressures to look another. That phrase is 100 x’s more offensive than the original point of this article.

Way to go Journal, for making girls feel they need to look a certain way to fit in! Not every girl wants to grow body hair, bathe with Dr. Bronner’s soap, apply Burt’s Bee”s lip balm and use hemp lotion exclusively.

“Visually liberated”? Bitch, please.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 9:50 a.m.

@Rose K.: Some teen girls “feel good about” doing drugs and being recklessly promiscuous. I’m not suggesting that this pageant is comparable to those activities — just sayin’ that “things teenagers enjoy doing” probably isn’t the best moral barometer.

@Pat: Read closer. “Visually liberated” is not the term used.

Comment / By pat / June 30, 10:48 a.m.

Oh excuse me, “visibly liberated” and “visually liberated” are such different terms, right? Ok, accept my apologies for that mistake. But please note, there is no mistaking my intention for the comment I posted, for I see that you missed the point of it all….

Comment / By Dana Westfahl / June 30, 11:06 a.m.

Great research asking the “grocer” his thoughts. When you write the next article on Breast Cancer I hope there is a janitor around to give input. Barbie information was printed like a decade ago. We talked about it in my college speech class. NCJ maybe you should start also doing reviews on the latest episodes of Saved by the Bell on TBS.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 11:45 a.m.

Ooh, good idea. One of my favorites is when Zack asks Kelly out, and while she’s thinking it over he falls for the new girl. Then the new girl turns out to be the school nurse! Classic.

Comment / By JD / June 30, 12:11 p.m.

1) Do you have any female children Ryan Burns? I can almost guarantee that they will want to play dress up and get all girlie at some point in their life no matter what you to try and make their life gender neutral…and it’s really ,just for fun- they’re not going to run to the toilet and make themselves throw up their toddler snacks or have lifelong issues as a result.

2) I know the most natural of girls up there and I can recall with two of them, on their wedding days getting all dressed up and got all girlie for the day, it was fun for them.

3) Is NCJ going to do a write up on the Fortuna Rodeo? I am sure there are pressures for males to be manly and ride bulls. Or, maybe they just want to, for fun.

4) Is anyone going to mention that parenting plays a HUGE role in these girls lives? If they have great parents who have given them inner strength and confidence and they enter a beauty contest, for fun, they will not be crushed if they don’t win.

5) Keep in mind that this contest is a fundraiser for he arts, local businesses and for girls just having fun for a day. This is not the Miss USA pagaent, give it a rest. So winner gets to have a title, some cash and a little modeling gig…who cares?

6) Whose to say what is good or bad for people? This article is written in a way that suggests girls who like to dress up, get their hair done, wear make-up and jewelry are bad people. They are not and neither are the all natural girls, they are just girls making choices for what’s best for them. It doesn’t make one better than the other. I have also know those liberated women of humboldt county do drugs, sleep around and make poor choices. Where’s that article?

7) A beauty contest does not mean the contestants are lacking any morals, integrity or ethics. For example, a pie eating contest at a local fair, could be just a pie eating contest for fun, is the NCJ going to do a huge write up about obesity and take it to unecessary levels as well?

8) I would prefer to go into a nice looking salon and get my hair done then a junky one. Comments in the article about the salon’s interior design sound like a nice looking salon, stylish and a place where I would hope to get an equally stylish salon.

*and to the comment about asking the grocer for comments- I agree with everything you said. Excellent points and made me laugh, thank you.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 12:58 p.m.

The main point of this story was to foster debate on a serious issue. So thank you to the folks who are taking time to comment here.

Most girls and women in this country feel terrible about their bodies. Many use unhealthy and even dangerous methods to alter them — and then remain unhappy. Why is that?

I don’t claim to know all the reasons. But I think it’s appropriate — indeed, important — to at least ask questions. Like: What are the psychological effects of a competition that judges teenage girls based on their bodies?

Can you say with certainty that such an event is harmless?

Comment / By J.D / June 30, 1:18 p.m.

What is your source for “most girls and women in this country feel terrible about their bodies”? Take a survey of the girls who didn’t win this particular contest and see if they are psychologically crushed for not having won and see if it’s a big deal or not and report that please.

It is not harmful if the girls going into it are self-confident and smart about the whole thing- a gift a good parent gives to their child.

Comment / By DL / June 30, 1:53 p.m.

I feel compelled to comment because of the negative reactions above. I’ve seen fliers for this event and received a FB invite, and was a bit repelled. I don’t know how judging how teenage girls look in swimsuits translates to a positive experience for them. It’s a contest of pretty, adding to the already constant deluge of messages girls receive about the importance of their appearance over all other traits. Does the competition take into consideration other factors, like community service, academic achievement and personal interests, aside from getting their hair done? An interesting aspect to the prize pool is the contract with a new local boutique. The boutique added me on FB, I had no idea what it was and still couldn’t tell after approving its friend request, but judging from the photos, it appears to be a fan club for emaciated legs. Our online “friendship” was short-lived, and the photos were creepy. Also, I love The Ink People, but I don’t get the affiliation with a beauty pageant. If this is a project of a sewing group for teens, why not a fashion show of participants’ original designs?

Thank you for writing this article, which reflects the opinions of many of us. I must, however, take issue with the terms “post-feminist Humboldt” and “normal-weight girls”. There is no post-feminist, despite reports to the contrary, and the latter just seems to reinforce what you say you oppose. What is this “normal” weight?

Comment / By Jen Savage / June 30, 2:09 p.m.

Part of me wants to make some sarcastic comment (“Hey, might as well learn early it’s your tits and ass that count!’) and another part wants to provide some thoughtful commentary about the difficulty of navigating our culture from the perspective of a once-teenage girl — but I’m still trying to figure that out.

In the meantime, excellent write-up, Ryan. You touched on a number of the issues without patronizing or mocking the young women involved. Which is important.

As far as the photo crop, I think it works.

Comment / By Joel Mielke / June 30, 2:13 p.m.

“What is your source for ‘most girls and women in this country feel terrible about their bodies’?”

You’re fucking kidding, right?

Comment / By Jen Savage / June 30, 2:16 p.m.

And, for no other reason than this is a big, complicated issue, let me point out that I both love the girly stuff (as my slumber-party-girlfriends can attest and have you seen my perfectly pedicured toes?) and yet also worry about girls not paying the same attention to cultivating their minds as perfecting their hair — and the oft-implied concept that you have to chose one or the other.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 2:18 p.m.

@JD: The sources are cited in the story.

@DL: Good points. “Normal-weight” was the term used in the magazine report. I agree that it’s problematic. And “post-feminist” was used colloquially, just meaning that most people up here consider themselves (and generally ARE, I think) pretty enlightened on gender issues.

@Jen: You said it, not me (the “tits and ass” bit).

Comment / By Jen Savage / June 30, 2:34 p.m.

And thanks to IW at 2:19pm for providing an example of being exactly the sort of internet commentator we don’t want our children to look up to.

Comment / By Christine Burns / June 30, 2:36 p.m.

Lets tell teens with kids that they are not good people. Good point IW. We should bring tomatoes or make them were a letter on there gowns. Good idea. Make someone disqualified based on what happens in a teen life. Im embarrassed by IW.

Comment / By stephanie silvia / June 30, 3:08 p.m.

A beauty contest? Shouldn’t our non-profit be supporting young women writing, dancing, painting, playing an instrument, learning how to fix a car, take a martial arts class? Sure, the identified as pretty and skinny girls like the pageant.Perhaps it’s more forgiving these days and more forgiving in Humboldt where even ballerinas don’t have to be bone thin, but swim suits? That’s pretty horrifying. If you win or lose. Why not a big dress up dance or party, where everyone can strut their stuff in their own way—but not be officially judged by a panal. Judging young women on how they look? Do the high schools here still have prom queen?

And I disagree, supporting PRIDE events are not the same as training young women to out-pretty and out-sexy each other.

Inner beauty and outer beauty and self-image and sexism and feminism and humanism are complicated enough to navigate without contests.

And little girl pageants? They should be actively boycotted.

And sweetie, the Barbie thing has been a feminist issue long before you were in college. It doesn’t mean it’s been resolved. Like nukes, I got my ass kicked by police 30 yrs ago protesting nuclear power plants at Seabrook in NH. I believed building new plants was a dead horse, but here we are, again-even our progressive pres pandering to the nuke builders.

Issues of men and women are always evolving, that’s why we dialogue like this, but on this one I stick to my early women’s lib ideology-no teen beauty contests and esp none put on by a non-profit arts org. Like I said, have a dress up party and all the girls who want can go home to Facebook who was prettiest.

Stephanie

Comment / By Melissa / June 30, 3:24 p.m.

Read an article recently in the Huffington Post that relates to this issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Comment / By 17 teen year old kid / June 30, 4:26 p.m.

kids are gonna do what they want!!!!!!! if they have good parents as was previously stated their not going to be affected by any of it. BUT its fucked up an demining to base a contest on something you cant really control…. itl make any girl a little more self conscious, let girls dress up an get pretty judge the contest on the things girls can do, like their choice of dress or how they chose to do their hair

Comment / By Ryan Burns / June 30, 5:01 p.m.

I believe Christine was responding sarcastically to a post that has since been removed, McKinleyville Resident.

Comment / By Arcata / June 30, 5:22 p.m.

I had to laugh at this Stephanie comment. You work in theater. When your ladies perform do you not have them dress, wear makeup, and push there bodies? Yes a PRIDE fundraiser is different than a teenage pageant, but to fund one and say another is wrong is pathetic as this article sounds. I am more entertained by this Rants forum than the actual article. Competition is the basis of life. If you do not wanna be judged, don’t be. That is your confidence. Since you are full of suggestions Ms. Silva, maybe you should do your own fundraiser or get on that particular board.

Comment / By Bob Doran / June 30, 7:58 p.m.

Jennifer, Hope you don’t mind but I recropped that photo.

Ryan, remind me to show you how.

Sylvia, The deleted comment was not “nice.”

Comment / By Sadie / June 30, 8:32 p.m.

Pageant? Okay. News please. Why is it not mentioned that Rob Arkley is funding this or that at the pageant they are going to cattle prod the fat ones? Dramatic much Miss Burns? Who cares. Give me some news.

Comment / By stephanie silvia / June 30, 9:06 p.m.

Ah, yes, I am against teen beauty contests, (what grown women decide to do is their own adult decision)-but I never said I was against make-up, dressing up or bikini’s. Tom-boy, girlie-girl, biker chick, prim and proper, Birenstocks and fleece—any or all of the above-be who you are; don’t raise girls to compete against each other on the basis of how they look in a bathing suit.

In the dance world I was often in conflict with the emphasis on uber-technique and thinness. (along w/ witnessing a lot of eating disorders). The dance world can be a f–-ed up place that I embraced and rebelled against, making my own company with women of different sizes. I never found the ideal. I still search in my work for what the meaning of dance and women in dance is for me and maybe for others,too. It’s big, like I said, women and beauty, and women and men, and what we value as being important.

Comment / By dancer / June 30, 9:30 p.m.

Stephanie Silvia no one cares. I am a dancer and woman like you who talk about what dance was like growing up 40 years ago does not really fit with how the world is today. No one is stating the obvious. I am sure that Burns must have told these girls he wanted them all dressed up and then told them next to their smiling faces would be the word Really? Thats Sick and Sad.

Comment / By Marie Eureka / July 1, 11:55 a.m.

I am sure everyone talking here and the articles writer has grown up around pageants? No? I have. I fully support pageants because I used to compete in them years ago. It made me more confident with dealing with people, helped me work on my public speaking and nervousness. It launched me into my career in merchandising to which I was afforded to retire here in the backwards redwood curtain. I am sure woman such as Ms. Silva are not happy with pageants and prom queens but maybe it has stemmed from not being confident in ones self to be able to face competition. I am proud of these girls. I support all of my grandchildren and think it healthy that if one chooses to run in pageants or one chooses to head up a bikers club I will fully and whole heartedly support it. That being said, I am mortified that the journalist would use such a bias title and try to humiliate these poor girls. I was under the impression that journalism up in this neck of the woods was not agenda pushing? Is this now owned by the Eureka Reporter?

Comment / By Ivee Walker / July 1, 1:22 p.m.

Why is everybody so concerned with what we do for fun? If i don’t win im not gonna be crushed, Im not gonna cry and My childhood memories arnt going to be ruined forever. Its a fun pageant where i hoping to get dressed up and make some friends. Beauty had been in out culture for days. This is our decision to do this pageant and nobody else’s. We’re not hurting anybody and we’re not getting put down. Everybody in this pageant gets some kind of title so nobodys a loser. Everybody negative energy is making me not want to do this pageant that i was really excited for. I feel like people are going to look at me different or that im gonna be a horrible person for doing something that was just simply innocent fun. Its a fun community event and i think people should see that. It just sucks that we have so many people not supporting the youth and putting us down for this. the people who think we’re gonna feel bad for not winning, Look at what you typed! you make us feel bad for even entering!

Comment / By ArcataTina / July 1, 1:30 p.m.

This is not news worthy. At least front page news. Girls, be the best you can be. Do not let the female bulls of humboldt get you upset because they have their long johns in a bunch. Have fun. Be young. Good luck.

Comment / By In Reality / July 1, 1:40 p.m.

Everyone wants to be appreciated and loved simply for who they are and too many adults are all too anxious to allow female teens the luxury of believing that their looks have become their primary achievement.

It’s something adults do to female minors the world-over.

Ask any therapist about the pandemic of two working parents competing for their child’s affection in the limited hours they have together. One says “no” and the other says “yes” to win affection…..it’s the primary source for poor behavior and promiscuity in youths. Kids end up feeling “whatever I want that makes me happy must be OK”. It is extremely unlikely that ANY will become professional models by the time their physical beauty wanes. Every week another row of extraordinary young women are unceremoniously dumped from the the set of “America’s Next Model” on TV.

Why girls still clamor for the opportunity, and boys do not, is a testament to the continuing legacy of commercial exploitation and the failure of feminism to interfere with corporate ad sales.

That the Ink People would allow this is shocking.

Thanks Ryan.

Comment / By ArcataTina / July 1, 2:02 p.m.

@inreality Are there no male models?Maybe not in Humboldt there aren’t many. There is a equal field of exploitation. Put down your NCJ and pick up a GQ magazine, or a Details. Do the models on Americas Next top model that are eliminated not go onto jobs in the field? You are uniformed. Speaking obviously about theories you read and have no business acting as though you are legitimately in the scope of this. Do you even know what you are talking about other than what you read in a text book or on Wikipedia? Ever hear the saying, “Being beautiful is a curse?” Its because anyone without outer beauty feels they need to underplay looks and it actually makes it into a bigger issue than it is. Lots of teens do modeling, yes in Humboldt not as much. You are implying, “Kids give up your dreams, be more realistic. Don’t have good grades, go to community college, work at a pizza place and blend into the redwood lifestyle?

Comment / By Abigail G. / July 1, 2:47 p.m.

This article is in very poor taste. I see having editors change that we lost some integrity. Every person saying what about this… what about that… is all just speculating. I notice that Ryan did not ask the girls what they thought, or parents what they thought. Just a gentleman at Wildberries. Good Researching. @ DANA HAHA Best comment on here. True True. Maybe be more like the Times- Standard. Get the news reports from other papers. They will be well written in the least, but hopefully more groundbreaking.

Comment / By Jen Savage / July 1, 2:48 p.m.

Ivee, just read your comment and in response to feeling bad because of people making negative comments, you have the right to tell everyone to fuck off, you know? If you’re enjoying the experience, that’s what matters. You come across as a confident, ambitious, fun-loving person, all characteristics of successful people.

Just don’t sell your brain short — especially if you’re thinking of becoming a lawyer. And forgive those of us who’ve been through the self-esteem wringer as girls. So much social pressure is unhealthy and unkind. Many of us bear the scars and wish to protect others from being hurt as we were. Any debating about those pressures, cultural messages, etc., is an attempt to help provide a better experience for younger women and should not be taken as personal commentary toward you or your friends.

Best of luck.

Comment / By Newspaper Reader / July 1, 2:53 p.m.

What a colossal F-up this story is. Can’t even bare to read it, and really, why does this need to be published? And where is your conscience, reporter? The shit storm you have created is the last thing these girls or anyone else wants. Very poor taste like somebody already said.

Comment / By Ryans foe / July 1, 3:34 p.m.

Do journalists always have a biased opinion to a story? Do you always take pictures of people and then put a nasty caption next to it? Two out Of how many girls were interviewed? Honestly, these two girls should be given an apology. How would you like your picture in the paper with REALLY?! next to it? These girls are doing something they have a passion for. If its there passion why stop them? I hope Holley pursues her career as a nurse and Ivee as a lawyer.

Comment / By Stacy / July 1, 3:49 p.m.

I find it shocking how awful Ryan reports as well as how BIAST he is. Maybe everyone should start slandering him! He asked many questions to the girls and put everything in the article they didn’t didn’t say or somehow twisted what they said. The whole community will be hearing about how horrible he has made these girls feel and how horrible and boast of a writer he is. Karma will come to you Ryan and I’m sure as hell not going to want to be in your shoes when it does. You are a HORRIBLE reporter and a HORRIBLE human being.

Comment / By Stephen / July 1, 4 p.m.

Shame on you North Coast Journal. Myself and many others will be boycotting you because of this horrendous article.

Comment / By re: really? / July 1, 4:04 p.m.

Really? Better? Is that Ryan?!?!

Comment / By Jaimie / July 1, 4:06 p.m.

What in the hell is that photo? Is that the author licking a mans panties? Gross. I can’t stand talk like this. Our PC world puts down ”skinny” woman as unhealthy. Woman of size can easily say “eat something you skinny bitch” but if I were to say, “Skip a meal fatty” I would be slandered on here in a heartbeat. Stick to the balloon track. Trees. Ugly. Something you all understand.

Comment / By taylor / July 1, 4:41 p.m.

Looks like Mr. RYAN BURNS isn’t to innocent like he makes himself out to be. Maybe he should do his next article on bully/harassment and put that picture on the front cover with REALLY? ;)

Comment / By Wow / July 1, 6:08 p.m.

We definitely don’t need this type of event in Humboldt County. Looking at this comment thread. It’s astoundingly clear such events attract mean-spirited bullies.

Comment / By Rite / July 1, 6:15 p.m.

Mean spirited bullies being the ones judging harshly about the pagaent. Or the mean spirited reporter himself. Good find!

Comment / By WOW / July 1, 8:12 p.m.

Wrong. The pro-pageant bullies can’t stand that most of America views pageants as an oddity, if not outright inappropriate. Grow up. We’re entitled to our opinion. The reporter merely reflected reality. You’re angry because the Journal has shone a light on your activities and you aren’t prepared to accept anything except praise. I suppose that’s to be expected from people who favor such events.

Comment / By RITE / July 1, 8:21 p.m.

And what do you do for fun? Everyone has their own opinions about everything just because some women like Beauty Pagaents doesn’t mean they need to be criticized for it. How is this inappropriate what so ever? You are the one who needs to grow up. People enjoy doing different things. If everyone liked doing the same thing and acted the same way that would be boring.

Comment / By grams / July 1, 8:42 p.m.

I had the opportunity to listen to the interview between Ryan and these two young ladies. Both girls were confident and well poised. The issue of body size, weight and image came into question to both girls and they are comfortable and happy with themselves. There was no pausing, no I think?, but yes I’m happy with my self image. This pageant has more than a swim suit portion in it. Thats just the only part Ryan focuses on. Formal dress, talent and interview are also part of the pageant. Ryan if these girls are happy with themselves why go to the extreme about girls being to thin and unhappy? Really?

Comment / By Wrong / July 1, 9:22 p.m.

Pageant is acceptable everywhere because every else, people are all the way to the front of the evelutionary scale. Been to arcata lately?

Comment / By Ryan Burns / July 1, 9:59 p.m.

Grams, thanks for that honest and respectful question.

I mention the extreme cases of unhappiness and eating disorders because those girls are out there too, along with confident and poised girls like Ivee and Holley. In fact, as the story mentions, for every girl who feels good about her body there are about four who don’t. To me that just seems like something we should change, if we can figure out how.

A good way to start, I suppose, is by asking questions. Like: What exactly will young girls gain by being judged in their swimsuits? (I admit, that’s the most troubling part of the contest for me.)

The questioning headline and the questions in this story are aimed, however clumsily, at the mean-spirited, multi-tentacled beast in our culture that makes girls feel so lousy about themselves. They’re not aimed (at least not intentionally) at Ivee or Holley or anyone else who manages, against the odds, to beat back that evil tenacious bastard.

I honestly hope Ivee and Holley and the rest of the contestants enjoy themselves Monday. And I hope their confidence and poise are contagious.

Comment / By Kendra Mason / July 1, 10:41 p.m.

@ Wow. You are flat out wrong. These comments are strong because anti pageant/fundraiser people are close minded, uninformed, and ignorant about anything that makes the birkenstock world you are used to look sad and unimportant. We definitely need pageants in this area. A yard looks better when it has flowers in it right? The world needs beautiful people in it too. We used to have the Rhodie pageant, we still have our homecoming queens and Women’s club queens. We now have all kinds of pageants in the area. Celebrating. Have you ever been to one? Is it the showing of skin from a young adult bothering you? You must gag at belly dancing. An Arcata favorite. Pro pageant people are not an oddity. YOU Are. Humboldt has been lax for years because of our Humboldt Honey mentality. Its 2011. Maybe pull the bras out of the burn barrel. The author did not reflect reality.Obviously looked for sources he could find that weighed in his ideal favor. Maybe this is your reality but do not speak as though you are speaking for most people. If that were true, why are they all over the WORLD? @ Ryan Burns Those poor losers who don’t get crowned. Such issues. Such horrible lives. 1986 runner up of Miss USA. Since she lost didn’t she commit suicide or become a mess of a girl? Google her… Halle Berry. Oh, she didn’t end her life? I guess she did okay for herself. This article was bias. Say that it wasn’t poking at the teens. That is Ridiculous and clearly no matter how you try and say that you were not aiming it towards the girls in the article, you were. It makes these young, intelligent girls look like prime targets to be mocked and taunted at school. Possibly even giving them an issue. McDonalds is always hiring Ryan. Maybe the next paper you print out should be a 8 1/2 by 11 resume.

Comment / By Not Ryan / July 1, 10:59 p.m.

“multi-tentacled beast in our culture that makes girls feel so lousy about themselves?” Ryan, that is a horrible thing to call ugly people.

Comment / By In Reality / July 2, 12:35 a.m.

No, there’s no Mr. Handsome pageants where 17 year old boys flex their muscles and demonstrate a talent.

Go to HSU, check out the reams of women’s literature and then the vacuous men’s section.

Superiority needs no research or fanfare over the superfluous. The “male mystique” remains fully protected and in charge in America and much of the rest of the world.

The Ink People should be ashamed.

Comment / By Buzz / July 2, 10 a.m.

“This article is in very poor taste.” It’s more the subject that’s in bad taste.

Comment / By Jennifer / July 2, 10:34 a.m.

@inreality
The Ink People should not be ashamed. Is there goal to say, this is art, this is not? This is appropriate, this is not? Are you? You act as though you are a reliable source for information. I know the HSU library may be low on books but here is an idea, GO OUTSIDE HUMBOLDT. You can find books there. Also you can see, The problem is you say points that you want people to believe that have no basis for fact. 1) There is no Mr Handsome pageant. No. But maybe the old hardbacks at the Library didn’t say that there are Mr. Pageants all over the world. Even The INTERNATIONAL PRINCE & PRINCESS PAGEANT. There is one.

All American Boy. There is another.All American Male. Another. Mister Puerto Rico is a very big deal to the Peurto Rican population. Male Teen Model Venezuela…. The List goes on. How Un normal that there are these male pageants all over the world and you are saying there are none. Should I keep going? InReality, use your time online to not rave about something you obviously have no basis to be speaking about and use this time on here to actually get some education on the matter. Leave the fundraising alone or bank roll the entire pageant so they do not have to have it.

Comment / By Lezelle / July 2, 12:21 p.m.

So over the top dramatic! Who cares? It is a fundraiser. I think putting more attention on that then on a fashion show on a salon television would have been more interesting. What do you expect a salon to have on television Dog the Bounty Hunter? Girls are going be insecure because of how people talk on a daily basis. Not on how judges judge an overall person based on an range of the person. These girls obviously were not insecure. I did not see a part of the article that stated that. Only that they are strong individuals. Ones that you dumbed down as much as you could. Ryan, swim wear bothers you? Not from the look of that photo a few comments ago. Really?

Comment / By Soccer Coach / July 2, 3:47 p.m.

Ryan says:

“I honestly hope Ivee and Holley and the rest of the contestants enjoy themselves Monday. And I hope their confidence and poise are contagious”

But Ryan you have already made a mockery of these girls (read the comment from Ivee about how you ruined the whole experience for her) and shown them that the world is full of lame reporters who twist the truth and are not to be trusted!

Nice going pal…YOU are a reporter? REALY??? CUZ YOU LOOK A WHIMPY LYING CLOSET SCUMBAG.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / July 2, 6 p.m.

Not that looks matter, right coach?

Comment / By geesh. / July 3, 1:49 p.m.

just think ryan, if people are offended by this article, just imagine if they had read any of your articles in pure moxie… anyways, thanks for spurring a conversation about a subject that is clearly still under debate.

Comment / By In Reality / July 3, 2:31 p.m.

Congratulations Jennifer 10:34AM, Ink People, and a willing public, to just now be learning about the objectification of women.

Humboldt County has always been a little slow to learn.

That Jennifer can cite an event in Venezuela that objectifies young boys makes me want to vomit. But her most telling quote is:

“Leave the fundraising alone or bank roll the entire pageant so they do not have to have it”.

Just like we were forced to buy the last old-growth to spare it from clear-cutting?

Appalling.

Comment / By lezelle / July 3, 2:55 p.m.

would love to see photographs of the people who are so strongly against beauty. Based on our world, I can only imagine what these people look like and why they would be so upset by a pageant celebrating inner and outer beauty respectively together.@in reality Ridiculous. You may want to vomit, but whom are you to say what is normal? I would love to see photographs of the people who are so strongly against beauty. Old growth redwood cutting, that would be a topic worth having a discussion over. In Reality, your uninformed, unintelligence, lack of knowledge about this topic show by your response from Jenifer.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / July 3, 3:54 p.m.

I would love to see photographs of the people who are so strongly against beauty.

Yeah, that must be frustrating. I mean, how can you be expected to judge the validity of someone’s opinion if you’re not totally sure that they’re ugly?

Comment / By Ryan Burns / July 3, 5:35 p.m.

Congratulations goes out to the grammatically challenged person behind “Lazelle,” “Jaimie,” “Really/Better,” “Charles,” “Abigail G.,” “Arcata Tina,” “Arcata” and “Christine Burns.” Three of your bogus identities have violated our comments policy, so the whole lot of you are now banned. You’ll have to argue amongst yourselves.

Comment / By In Reality / July 4, 12:06 a.m.

It’s OK Ryan, the ridiculous “anti-beauty argument” is what we can expect from the uninformed.

Feminists thought they’d left the objectification of young women behind with bouffants, Vietnam and charm schools.

The more things change….

Still, we have an impressive list of female Nobel Laureates, and the likes of Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale, Kathleen Gun…far too many focused, educated, and courageous women in history to list…

Perfecting “nice and sweet” never changed anything for the better in history, quite the opposite in fact! It merely serves the status- quo, hence it’s well-funded! A century of beauty pageants and the only notable achievement is Arnold Schwarzenegger and a chain of anorexic young women with irrational dreams.

Generations of courageous young women who spent their lives fighting for a vote could give a damn about the Ink People’s funding.

And now…

Neither do I.

Comment / By natasha s / July 4, 2:16 a.m.

BRAVO for writing such a great article. Those of you who think it’s socially ok to put underage girls in bikini’s and judge them are sick! The only people who will go to this are creepers and or child molesters, and all they got to do is pay 2$ to see your daughter half naked! The event is across the street from Steve and Dave’s bar where 4 count em 4 KNOWN sex offenders live upstairs. Shame on you ink people. And shame on the rest of you for criticizing local news. I believe the author did the best job he could with the amount of time given. These girls and their parents should be ashamed of themselves for reinforcing such negative beauty standards. Any teenage girl that wants to prance around in practically nothing for an audience and be judged clearly already has self-esteem issues.

Comment / By Joel Mielke / July 4, 9:07 a.m.

Reading Natasha’s painfully thoughtful reaction, I’m now inclined to think that girls would be much better off investing in self-defence classes and boxing equipment than in “beauty” products. The efficacy of the former is in striking contrast to the desperate, endless failures of the latter.

Comment / By The big picture / July 4, 1:32 p.m.

Well done Ryan.

Now, can we take a closer look at the status-quo in our communities that foster failure and manufacture poverty?

What will follow the current boom in rent-to-own, job scalpers, rental agencies, bail bonds, storage facilities, dollar stores, second hand, pawn shops and check cashing schemers?

The promise of more poverty wage big boxes and the homes they can’t afford???!!!

Who’s behind it, how do they dominate local politics, for how long have they done so, how much are they benefiting, what are the direct and indirect public subsidies?

The public needs to know!!!

Keep up the good work!

Comment / By equality for all / July 4, 1:40 p.m.

in my good opinion all pageants should be open to both men and women, i mean if they are indeed about poise and confidence aren’t those qualities beneficial to the male population as well?

Comment / By Really? / July 4, 3:49 p.m.

Must be nice to win a pageant after posting nasty stuff about people on the journal. Congrats to the two runner ups!

Comment / By Ivee walker / July 4, 11:46 p.m.

I never posted that IW comment, that comment was saying things about me too. Obviously i wouldnt post that. Just saying. Think what you want about me, I worked incredibly hard for this pageant and yes my mother pushed me but i was never mean to any of the girls and i didnt laugh at them. If my parents did then thats my parents Im not them so judging me on what my parents did really isnt fair. Sorry that whoever you wanted to win didnt win but saying rude things about a 15 year old on a blog is really immature.

Comment / By Mature / July 5, 12:12 a.m.

I know Ivee personally, and she is a great person. I bet that everyone who posted on here doesn’t even know her at all, and is just pissed because their kid or friend or whoever didn’t win. Well too bad, cause Ivee did, so that sucks. And when you’re in a pageant, don’t you think winning is what you’re trying to do? Duh. And the parents just shouldn’t help or care about their kid winning? NO. Ofcourse parents are going to care and push their kids to try to win.

Comment / By Kaya / July 5, 1:07 a.m.

Ivee did amazing in the pagent and worked really hard!! Her mom did push her but thats what we need to really want to win. She didnt realize how much she probably actuly wanted the crown untill the day of the pagent. Her mom only gave her hope thats he could have a chance at winning. A few days before the pagent ivee told me she didnt care if she didnt win, she was only doing it for fun and the experience of being a girlie girl:) and for ur info her familg were not laughing at the girls they were talking about the baby and commenting about dresses. Who new that the girls would be so upset about winning:( its really sad

Comment / By Plain Jane / July 5, 6:04 a.m.

Good article and followup comments, Ryan. The abysmal writing skills of some of these pro-pageant posters are almost as appalling as parents who push their kids into beauty competitions. Maybe next year TIP will put more thought into fund raising projects and sponsor a speech contest on a relevant subject where they can compete on intellect and poise without being half naked.

Comment / By Come on? / July 5, 10:39 a.m.

My point exactly Kaya!! Her family was making fun of another girl in the pagaent because she had a child. I was sitting a row behind the family who kept getting rude remarks about the baby. Thanks for telling the truth. Ivee’s mother was the most rude dis-respectful lady I have ever met. Especially to not only my niece, but to the family sitting in front of me with the child. Such a dissapointment! Learn some Family Values. #prayingforyou

Comment / By anana / July 5, 10:40 a.m.

So a mother that upsets her daughter so much that she is asked to leave the area, is only wanting to support her? I was in the audience and I also heard the negative comments made about the other contestants by this family. The comments regarding a baby were insinuated towards one of the contestants. They were crude and uncalled for. No Ivee you are not responsible for comments made by your family or friends. However I find it odd how similar the comments I heard were so close to the ones that were posted by IV @ 2:19 p.m.and later removed. Who ever posted the negative and shallow comments must not remember they signed in with an email address that can be easily traced. Perhaps that address should be published so the commenter can take credit for their thoughts. There are some things I would like to suggest should there be another pageant. 1) Judges should not know any of the contestants 2) Be more professional 3) Organized 4) Contestants asked same questions or questions of equal importance 4) Better location 5) All persons whether an MC or photographer dress for the occasion. I attended the pageant and was very dissappointed, not in the contestants,but in those who organized it. There were MAYBE 60 people in the audience. With 5 contestants that tells me only family or friends attended. Where were the people that sponsored this event?

Comment / By Ivee Walker / July 5, 11:43 a.m.

Kaya, meant that we we’re talking about the baby we brought; not Holley’s. Just to clarify.

Comment / By JJ / July 5, 12:07 p.m.

I will never provide patronage or support to the Ink People again.

Comment / By anana / July 5, 12:12 p.m.

I’m not sure which of the other people in the crowd were child molestors or pedifiles. Some times those people look like parents,brothers, uncles and Judges. With the exception of one, I don’t think any other parent “pushed” their daughter into doing this pageant. I felt they were there because their daughter needed support when doing her Dance, Poem or Cheer Dance. It is my understanding that the Poem was written and The Cheer Dance was choreographed by the contestant that performed them. I was also impressed by the other dancer and the violinist. Those girls were indeed talented. As far as the bathing suit part,what did the girls show that they don’t show when they go to the lake or some other place to enjoy the sunshine? I am not aware they had to wear any specific type of swim suit. One girl choose to wear a wrap and I thought she looked amazing. If the swim suit part is the most negative element in a pageant why not get rid of that part or make some changes. I went to support someone that I adore and respect. It isn’t easy to be in a crowd of strangers or to have people that you don’t know judge you. It was my understanding that the purpose of this event was to be a fund raiser and to have a chance to model for a reputable company, also an opportunity to develope a portfolio for each entrant that she might use in the future IF SHE chooses to. In my eye every contestant is a winner IF she did her best and learns something positive from this event in her life.

Comment / By The big picture / July 5, 12:16 p.m.

Congratulations to Plain Jane for the most salient comments.

Sponsoring teen-debate teams would provide youths with an exciting opportunity to develop skills in diplomacy and argumentation essential in maintaining personal relationships and asserting oneself in society. Two arenas of life where women are especially oppressed.

Reviewing their comments here, it’s obvious these skills are absent.

Imagine a community of “Rosa Parks” and you can understand why the rich sponsor beauty contests instead.

Comment / By Holley Russell / July 5, 1:59 p.m.

Personally I think ever single girl stood out in their own personal ways. No I did not win the pagaent. But in my very own way I won so much more. I got the chance to meet so many nice, hardworking talented girls! Im much more confident in my self as well! Im sure we have ALL learned so many positive things from this. Especially with all of this negative talk throughout these comments. I’m so happy for Ivee and her family! If someone feels the need to talk badly about me, or my daughter; honestly that’s their own problem. I love my daughter more than life itself and in no way, shape, or form will I ever deny, or be embarrassed of her. She’s what gets me through my day. I had an awesome time doing this pagaent and will never regret anything that came from it!

Comment / By anana / July 5, 3:17 p.m.

Ivee I must not have made myself clear or your family has a strange way of talking to each other. The comments about a “scarlet letter “, “forgetting to bring the tomatoes”, and the comments about the baby definetly were directed at someone in the pageant as well as some of the unfavorable comments made about another girl. I wasn’t sure until you just confirmed it that those people were your family and friends. I can understand why you don’t want to be judged for something I KNOW I heard them say and definetly were NOT about the baby your group brought. That baby was adorable and innocent as was the other baby your family was slamming. How embarrassing for you. I know what I heard and it was uncalled for. Just to clarify…

Comment / By anana / July 5, 4:22 p.m.

I’m curious as to why Ivee had to clarify a comment made by Kaya and why Kaya couldn’t do it herself? Holley you may not have won a crown but you are definetly a winner. You have no reason to ever deny or be embarrassed about your daughter. I have great respect for you. She is beautiful and you obviously love her alot. I was very impressed by your answer when asked where you saw yourself in five years. Without hesitation I heard you say ” being a Nurse and raising a six year old daughter”. Be strong, I know you will be successfull.

Comment / By Giraffe / July 5, 7:46 p.m.

I would like to encourage all posters to use punctuation. It is far easier to take your comment seriously when you know how to use an apostrophe.

Comment / By Ivee walker / July 5, 10:42 p.m.

My family said nothing about Holleys baby. My mother was a teen mom and understands it. Obviously you should stop assuming things anana because its ridiculous. I clarified for kaya because she’s my cousin and i know what she meant and anything she says you guys are going to twist and turn around. I’m disappointed that all anybody can say are negitive things; besides Holley (Thank you holley btw) So please leave me and my familys names out of your mouths because posting untrue things on a public blog,place,ect is slander which is a federal law and its also cyber bulling to say rude things about a 15 year old. Like seriously what if i was suicidal and decided to take my own life because adults had to act like little kids and call names. Don’t pretend that couldnt happen because there have been many case’s of cyber bulling.So i’ll leave you with some advice; Grow up.

Comment / By anana / July 6, 1:16 a.m.

I must be missing something. I didn’t assume anything. I stated what I heard. What I posted was true and you are right, it is slander to post untrue things on a public blog or whatever. What rude comment did I make about you? I really hope you don’t commit suicide because of the truth.I see no name calling. I don’t know of an age limit on cyber bullying either.

Comment / By Ryan Burns / July 6, 8:17 a.m.

Look, folks. While it’s tempting to thank you for displaying one of the downsides to pageants, I’m getting tired of deleting your vindictive, mean-spirited attacks. Take it elsewhere.

Comment / By STFU Donny / July 6, 1:50 p.m.

@Ryan Burns: “Some teen girls “feel good about” doing drugs and being recklessly promiscuous” Do you really want to stand by that statement?

Also the fact that you, the “Acting Editor” of this publication can not crop a photo, take a good one or hire someone who can points to the poor quality the North Coast Journal routinely produces.

Seems you are more inclined to bicker with readers on these comment pages than do what it takes to produce a quality paper.

Prob shouldn’t bother anyway. Print’s dead - right? Wonder why.

Comment / By Buzz / July 6, 4:38 p.m.

Sure, STFU Dude. Print’s dead because you have a disagreement with a journalist. And you’re right, it’s sooooo important that a good writer be able to crop photos properly.

Comment / By STFU Donny / July 6, 4:45 p.m.

I said editor. You must like the Journal. It’s fitting ‘cause you obviously don’t read.

Comment / By Rose / July 7, 4:41 p.m.

I read this article, and I think that the criticisms of the author are really out of place. To me it seemed like he was doing exactly what good journalism does, which is to present both arguments to a side. I am the mother of a young girl, and I share all of the concerns about society’s gender stereotyping and sexualization of young girls. I thought he did a good job of discussing those concerns. After reading the article, I did not get the feeling that the author supports the idea of the beauty pagent in any way. However, his writing would have been really unprofessional if he had just torn down the whole thing and the Ink People, which is a really great organization that generally supports amazing arts programs in Humboldt. I think that the tone of this article did well to capture the strangeness of pagents in general, and of this one in particular. As his title suggests. Thank you Ryan Burns, for the illuminating article and I hope that in the future Ink People will find more empowering and creative activities for youth to support!

Comment / By what? / July 15, 11:49 a.m.

you people are f’ing retarded. dont you have anything better to do? jez just let the girls have fun there old enough to decide if they want to participate or not. sounds like a bunch of insecure people bantering because they wouldnt have the balls to do it and have fun. thats the whole point right, to have fun? guess not anymore.