Newly crowned Miss USA Kára McCullough is a beautiful, educated black scientist. She sounds pretty awesome, right? But not even 24 hours after she won the pageant Sunday, the backlash began.
Along with two other contestants, Kára was asked, “What do you consider feminism to be and do you consider yourself a feminist?” She responded, “As a woman scientist in the government, I’d like to transpose the word feminism to equalism. I try not to consider myself this diehard, like, I don’t really care about men. I am going to say one thing though, women are just as equal as men when it comes to opportunity in the workplace. I say first hand I have witnessed the impact that women have in leadership in the medical sciences as well as in the office environment. As Miss USA, I would hope to promote that type of leadership responsibility globally for so many women worldwide.”
Then, when asked whether healthcare was a right or a privilege, she said the latter.
As you can imagine, her answers caused a social media uproar. Viewers immediately tweeted their anger at Kára.
The gal who just won Miss USA said she doesn’t believe in feminism!!! On live TV!!! This is why ppl think pageants are out of touch!!!!!!!!!
— AMF (@AnnaM_33) May 15, 2017
Miss USA is a chemist who advocates for women in STEM, but without feminism or guaranteed access to healthcare. Oooookay.
— The Dubai Datebook (@_ShamGod) May 15, 2017
Miss Not A Feminist won Miss USA because everything is garbage all the time #missusa
— nah (@caitlin_harperr) May 15, 2017
when the winner of Miss USA says she doesn’t believe in feminism and that health care is a privilege (not a human right) pic.twitter.com/MTfDbeGz0H
— KG (@KayyGoode) May 15, 2017
When a Miss USA contestant says she believes in “equalism” not feminism pic.twitter.com/3SeBR3rSIq
— Kyrsten Stoll (@knstoll) May 15, 2017
A brown girl won #MissUSA but she thinks affordable healthcare is a privilege and feminism is man-hate so she’s cancelled. #ByeGirl
— Out Rae Geous (@_TheOpinion) May 15, 2017
Many viewers rallied around Miss New Jersey after she gave this response to the same question about feminism. “I think it’s a misconception when people believe that feminism is women being better than men, but it’s really not. It’s a fight for equality.”
#MissUSA #NewJersey IT SHOULDA BEEN @MissNJUSA CHHAVI VERG!… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! pic.twitter.com/4t7pT4pJ45
— Joe Stratford (@Joe2CT) May 15, 2017
While Kára might do great things with her new title, we hope she learns a bit more about feminism and healthcare in the process.
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