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For the first time in nearly a century, Miss America contestants will not strut onstage in swimsuits this year, the organizers announced on Tuesday, as the pageant tries to redefine its role in an era of female empowerment and gender equality.
美国小姐(Miss America)选美大赛的主办方于周二宣布，今年的选手不会穿泳装走台，这是近一个世纪以来的第一次。在一个女性赋权和性别平等的时代，美国小姐比赛正试图重新定义自己的角色。
Miss America and swimsuits have been synonymous since its first contest in 1921 on the Atlantic City boardwalk. But what started as contestants wearing one-piece bathing suits, conservative by today’s standards, became women in revealing bikinis and high heels parading around for a leering television audience.
自1921年在大西洋城木板人行道上举行第一场比赛以来，美国小姐比赛和泳装一直是同义词。但起初，参赛者穿的是连体泳衣，按今天的标准来看颇为保守，后来变成了穿着暴露的比基尼和高跟鞋走来走去，吸引电视机前色眯眯的观众。
Now under mostly female leadership, the Miss America Organization said Tuesday that it was scrapping the swimsuit competition, starting at the national contest in September, in a sweeping change that will also reshape local and state contests.
美国小姐大赛组织(Miss America Organization)周二宣布，将从9月的全国比赛开始取消泳装比赛。这一重大变化也将重塑地方和州一级的选美比赛。现在，该组织的领导层中大部分是女性。
“I’ve talked to tons of young people who’ve said to me, ‘I’d love to be a part of that program, but I don’t want to parade around in a swimsuit,'” Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor who is now the organization’s chairwoman, said in an interview. “I get it.”
“我和很多年轻人谈过，他们对我说，‘我想参加比赛，但我不想穿着泳衣到处走，’”曾是福克斯新闻(Fox News)的主播，现在是美国小姐大赛组织主席的格雷琴·卡尔森(Gretchen Carlson)在接受采访时说。“我明白了。”
The organization, confronting its own harassment scandal and searching for its place in the #MeToo era, had worked on the new format for several months. The nine members of the board of directors — seven are now women — unanimously approved the change in March. It was kept a secret until two days ago, when state directors and former Miss Americas were informed.
该组织正在应对自己的骚扰丑闻，并寻找自己在#MeToo（我也是）时代的位置。在此之前，它用了几个月时间制定新的比赛形式。3月，董事会的九名成员——现在七人是女性——一致批准了这项改变。此事一直处于保密状态，直到两天前州董事和前美国小姐收到通知。
Carlson, who assumed a prominent voice for women’s rights in the workplace after filing a harassment lawsuit in 2016 against the former Fox chairman Roger Ailes, said the competition would focus more on the contestants’ talents, intelligence and ideas.
卡尔森说，比赛会更加注重选手的才华、智力和想法。她为职场女性权益高调发声，2016年还曾对福克斯前主席罗杰·艾尔斯(Roger Ailes)提起骚扰诉讼。
“We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance,” Carlson, who was Miss America in 1989, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. “We are moving it forward and evolving it in this cultural revolution.”
“我们不会以你的外表来评判你，”卡尔森周二在ABC的《早安美国》(Good Morning America)节目上说。“在这场文化革命中，我们正推动它向前发展。”她本人是1989年的美国小姐。
The changes will be immediate for Miss America, but will take longer to arrive at local and state events, Carlson confirmed. Since state contests are underway, they will not adopt the new format until after the national competition in September.
卡尔森证实，这些变化对美国小姐大赛的影响是直接的，但要影响到地方和州一级的比赛，还需要更长的时间。由于州一级的比赛正在进行中，它们要到9月的全国大赛之后才会采取新的形式。
The Miss America Organization has undergone a rapid change in the past six months. Carlson was named chairwoman in January, and several women were appointed to the organization’s highest ranks.
过去六个月里，美国小姐大赛组织经历了一场迅速的变革。卡尔森在1月被任命为主席，多位女性进入该组织的高层。
Those changes came after emails surfaced in December showing that Sam Haskell, the former chief executive, had made disrespectful and misogynistic comments about former pageant winners. Miss America is also confronting dwindling viewership as people turn away from live televised events.
在发生这些变化之前，去年12月，多封电子邮件显示，该组织的前首席执行官萨姆·哈斯凯尔(Sam Haskell)对以前的比赛冠军发表过不敬和歧视女性的言论。美国小姐还面临观众减少的问题，因为人们不再关注在电视上直播的活动。
Miss America started as a beachside beauty pageant in 1921 in an effort by Atlantic City to extend the summer vacation season. At the first competition, the top finisher was crowned Miss America and a runner-up received the swimsuit trophy.
美国小姐起初是大西洋城在1921年为延长夏季假期而在海边举行的一场选美比赛。在第一届比赛中，冠军被授予“美国小姐”称号，亚军获得泳衣作为奖品。
Over the decades, the Miss America Organization struggled to reconcile its stated mission — empowering women and handing out millions of dollars in scholarships — with requiring contestants to wear revealing attire.
美国小姐大赛组织宣传自己的使命是赋权女性和发放数百万美元的奖学金，在长达几十年的时间里，它难以调和这一使命和要求参赛者穿暴露服装的做法。
The organization’s leaders have said for more than 20 years they had thought about altering the swimsuit competition. Until recently, though, they continued to defend it, asserting that the competition is about poise in uncomfortable situations and fitness, not thinness.
该组织的领导者声称要对泳装比赛做出改变已经有20多年。然而，直到最近他们还在继续为此辩护，称该比赛的目的是在不舒适的情况下能够保持优雅，强调健康而非苗条。
In last year’s edition of the instruction manual for state-level judges, the organization noted that many view the swimsuit portion as exploitative. “It is the Miss America Organization’s belief that those who feel that way really don’t understand the competition itself,” it said. “Regardless of what we may each believe about the role of the Miss America Organization’s titleholders, the American public has an expectation that she will be beautiful and physically fit.”
在去年各州的评委指导手册中，该组织指出，许多人认为泳装这部分是剥削性的。“美国小姐大赛组织认为，有这种感觉的人并不真正了解竞赛本身，”手册写道。“不论我们各自对美国小姐获奖者的角色可能会有何种想法，美国大众都期望她会是漂亮且身体健康的。”
Yet some former contestants have spoken out against the swimsuit competition, saying it led to serious physical and mental problems. Kirsten Haglund, who was Miss America in 2008, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that the swimsuit portion “perpetuated the objectification of women more than it empowered them.”
但一些曾经参加比赛的选手公开表达了对泳装比赛的反对，称其会导致严重的身体和心理问题。2008年的美国小姐克里斯滕·哈格伦德(Kirsten Haglund)周二在Facebook上写道，泳装部分“延续了对女性的物化，而非赋予她们更多力量”。
The directors of the Miss America state contests, who were told of the changes two days ago, offered a range of reactions to the announcement, with some welcoming it and others expressing dismay. On Twitter, the Miss Georgia pageant reassured fans that its contest next week will still include swimsuits.
美国小姐的州竞赛负责人们在两天前得知了这一变化，他们对该公告的反应不一。一些人表示支持，另一些人则表达了失望。在Twitter上，佐治亚州小姐比赛向粉丝们承诺，将于下周进行的比赛将依然包含泳装部分。
“It’s discouraging to hear, I was definitely a proponent of it,” said Chaz Ellis, the interim executive director of the Miss South Carolina Scholarship Organization, adding that he supported the national group despite the changes. “It’s about physical fitness, it’s about a healthy lifestyle.”
“听到这个消息让人沮丧，我肯定是它的支持者，”南卡罗来纳小姐奖学金组织的临时执行董事夏茨·埃利斯(Chaz Ellis)说，并补充说，尽管有所改变，他仍然支持全国组织的决定。“这是关于身体健康的，关注的是健康的生活方式。”
Not everyone in the pageant world, however, agreed that the swimsuit portion was entirely about judging fitness. “I don’t know if that’s completely honest or accurate,” said Leah Summers, the executive director of the Miss West Virginia Scholarship Organization, who won that state’s title in 1991.
在选美圈子里，并非所有人都同意泳装部分完全是对健康的评判。“我不知道这是否完全诚实或准确，”曾在1991年获得西弗吉尼亚小姐头衔，现为该奖学金组织执行董事的利亚·萨默斯(Leah Summers)说。
Summers said she anticipated “pretty dramatic changes” from the national organization after the appointment of a new chairwoman and new female board members. She said the new leaders are trying to keep Miss America relevant.
萨默斯表示，在新的主席和女性董事会成员上任后，全国组织内有了“非常戏剧性的变化”在她的意料之中。她说，新的领导人在努力维系美国小姐存在的意义。
And, she noted, the news would no doubt bring contestants a measure of relief. “There’s something to be said about not having to think about walking across a stage in a bikini,” she said.
并且，她指出，这个消息对参赛者来说是一种解脱。“不需要考虑穿着比基尼走过舞台是有好处的，”她说。
Beth Knox, executive director of the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant, said that she was thrilled at the development: A woman’s goals and aspirations were far more important than how she looked in a swimsuit.
北卡罗来纳小姐奖学金选美比赛的执行董事贝斯·诺克斯(Beth Knox)说，她为这一发展感到激动：女性的目标和志向远比她穿泳装的模样重要得多。
“If people really listen with an open mind to the reason this change is being implemented, I just do not see how anyone could not support this improvement,” Knox wrote in an email.
“如果人们真的能以开放的心态倾听实施这个改变的原因，我想不到还有谁会不支持它，”诺克斯在邮件中写道。
