From America's Favorite Pre-Teen to Miss Nude World, America offers a plethora of beauty contests and competitions for females, and the occasional male, to be crowned a beauty queen. In American Beauty, Lois Banner suggests that beauty queens illustrate the American ideals of social mobility and democracy: anyone can be a pageant winner and better herself, since anyone can enter a contest. Additionally, there is always another chance to win because new queens are crowned every year.

Beauty queens are chosen for every conceivable reason. Their role is to represent pageant sponsors as an icon and a spokesperson. Queens represent commodities like Miss Cotton; products like Miss Hawaiian Tropic [suntan lotion]; ethnic identity such as Miss Polish America; festivals and fairs such as the Tournament of Roses queen; sports like Miss Rodeo America; and geographic regions such as Miss Palm Springs, Miss Camden County, Miss Utah-USA...