The Miss American Revolution

Our country’s most iconic beauty pageant is undergoing a post-#MeToo makeover, staffing its board with former contestants and eliminating its swimsuit competition. But is it too little, too late?

- Molly Langmuir

Last December 21, Miss America was sitting in an Applebee’s in Bismarck, North Dakota, eating an Oriental chicken salad, when she got a text letting her know an article was about to drop that would reorder her life. Since she’d been crowned on September 10 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, it was rare for her to have a moment when she could simply be Cara Mund, a 24-year-old who had grown up on a quiet, meandering street nearby, an only child whose mother, a school psychologist she describes as her best friend, had been diagnosed with cancer three times and whose father was a civil engineer. Home for Christmas, she was on the first extended break she’d had in months. By the time she checked her phone, the article was up.