Article: Beauty contests - the stakes are big.

Are the thousands of beauty contests held in the U.S. each year "meat markets" out of tune with an age of sexual equality? Or do they remain a legitimate sales tool of business?

Controversy over this issue reached fever pitch in late July as Vanessa Williams was dethroned as Miss America.

The first black winner of Atlantic City's 63-year-old pageant gave up her crown after Penthouse magazine published sexually explicit photos of her with another woman. Williams said she had never agreed to publication of the 1982 photos.

While blasting Penthouse for using the pictures, feminists and newspaper columnists also accused the pageant's promoters of ...

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