Miss America 2014 hopeful is a U.S. Military soldier... with tattoos
Miss America contestant shows her tattoos
Miss Kansas 2014, Theresa Vail, will be only the second U.S. Military soldier to compete in the 93rd annual 2014 Miss America pageant, which has returned to Atlantic City (and due to this, the current outgoing Miss America, Mallory Hagan, has only reigned for 8 months). She is serving in the National Guard, and wants to be a military dentist, while also studying in college for a degree in chemistry. She is also a boxer, skydiver, archer, and M16 markswoman, and on top of all that, she can speak Chinese and sing opera too. (She originally wanted to show off her archery skills as her talent, but projectile objects are not allowed, so she switched to singing opera.)
However, the one thing that is most surprising about her is that she has tattoos on her body. She has two tattoos: the first is the "Serenity Prayer," located on the right side of her torso; the second is the U.S. Army Dental Corps insignia, located on her left shoulder. This makes her the first ever Miss America contestant to openly show off her tattoos. She decided to enter the pageant, choosing not to hide her tattoos, because she wants to break pageant stereotypes (no one really expects a soldier, of all people, to be a beauty queen, now, do they?) and empower other young women. (Apparently, there is no rule banning tattoos, and this also apparently isn't the first time that a contestant has had tattoos, but everyone else who did get inked chose to hide their tattoos; still, tattoos and Miss America typically don't mix, but that could change tomorrow night.)
The last time I heard about such a pageant contestant was in 2009, when a female British Army Major named Katrina Hodge, nicknamed "Combat Barbie," won the crown for Miss England 2009 (whether she also had tattoos or not had not been revealed). She had been previously commended for downing an escaped military prisoner, and later decided to replace the swimsuit competition with an athletic assessment challenge for the next annual 2010 Miss England pageant, so if Theresa Vail wins Miss America 2014, perhaps she will have the next pageant do the same?
As for the tattoo thing? Typically, tattoos have a bad rap, due to being associated with strippers and prostitutes in the case of women (think the lower-back tattoo, sometimes insultingly referred to as the "tramp stamp"), and criminals, in the case of men, especially in prison. However, tattoos are also a common military practice, and many soldiers have them.
The 93rd annual Miss America 2014 pageant will be televised live from its place of origin, Atlantic City, New Jersey, on ABC, at 8pm EST on Sunday, September 15th.
