The Fate Of Miss California USA
 Thursday, May 7th, 2009  by Connie T.

A partially nude photograph of 21-year-old Miss California USA Carrie Prejean surfaced on celebrity blogs, where Carrie is wearing panties and no top, her back partially to the camera and her arms around her chest. Prejean is claiming that these pictures were modeling pictures leaked by opponents of her view that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

"I am a Christian, and I am a model," she said in a statement last night. "Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos. Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid website that openly mocks me for my Christian faith. I am not perfect, and will never claim to be."

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The site that originally posted the photo claims to have five more. Prejean was initially asked about her views on same sex marriage by Perez Hilton, gossip blogger and a judge at the Miss USA pageant. Though she said "no offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised," Prejean stated her belief that marriage should be heterosexual. Perez, other celeb bloggers, and the media harshly criticized Carrie for her answer.

"I was attacked for giving my own opinion on the stage of the Miss USA contest. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect marriage," she told TODAY's Matt Lauer. "It's something that's very dear to my heart." Prejean has signed on as a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage and has hired a Christian public relations firm.

It remains to be seen whether or not the "modeling" photos will cost Prejean her title. Meanwhile, let's not pass up one of the biggest oddities about Carrie's story: Several weeks before the Miss USA pageant, the Miss California pageant committee paid for Carrie Prejean to receive breast implants.

Keith Lewis, Co-Director of the Miss California pageant, admitted in an interview with The Early Show that their organization funded Carrie's $10,000 implants. When pressured by anchor Maggie Rodriguez as to why they would do such a thing, Lewis said, "I think that we have to look at the way that we perceive real women and whether that needs to be changed in the media. But you see it on television. You see it in advertising. It may be part of this pageantry, as well. But I think it's prevailing to everywhere, not just in one area."

What does that mean? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? The fact that they did that sickens us. We could all stand to learn more about POSITIVE body images and recognizing and resisting the entertainment world's vision of "beauty."

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