In Miss USA drama, comeuppance for US 'raunch culture'

If Tara Conner had taken her own advice, she may not have found herself in the full glare of media cameras Tuesday, crying as she owned up to some bad behavior.

During the pageant in April, the aspiring Miss USA was asked if "pop superstars" were positive role models for young people. "I think they're a little bit too risqué," she told the judges. "I think they need to tone it down."

That answer may have helped Ms. Conner win her crown as Miss USA 2006. But subsequent reports of the Kentucky girl's hard partying with other celebrities on the New York club scene almost cost her that prized tiara.

Her story is surely a cautionary tale about a small-town girl suddenly hitting the big city. But it also reflects a clash between the wholesome image of the Miss USA pageant and what author Ariel Levy calls "raunch culture," in which the "values and aesthetics of a red-light district" seep into the mainstream.

From Paris Hilton's rise to fame through a sexually explicit video traded on the Internet to spring-break antics verging on soft-core pornography and movies that celebrate binge-drinking bashes, today's commercial culture glamorizes bad behavior.

That sets up a contradiction that is both confusing and dangerous to young people, particularly women, say psychologists and others. It's responsible, in part, for the rise among young women of drinking, prescription- and illegal drug abuse, and eating disorders such as anorexia, they say.

As a condition of retaining her crown, Conner said she will enter a rehab program for substance abusers.

"The term I use is 'slut chic,' " says Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School near Boston. "The sad thing about hearing about Miss USA is that she had a title with real power, and what happened to her happens to many girls and women growing up today. They get this message that, despite everything else that's wonderful and uniquely 'you,' power ... is still defined by raunchy behavior that's disrespectful to yourself. And it's a false sense of power."

The pageant's decision to give Conner a second chance to live up to her own admonishments may well be a recognition of the difficulties this generation of young women face in a culture awash in aggressive sexuality, self-indulgence, and bad-girl glam.

Conner's reign as Miss USA started almost like a fairy tale. She's a self-described tomboy who likes to sky-dive, "play basketball with my dad, and ride go-carts with my brothers." Soon after taking the crown as Miss USA, the 5-foot, 5-inch blonde beauty came in fourth in the Miss Universe contest. Then the talk began about her late-night escapades. Only 20 at the time, she was reported to have been seen drinking with other young celebrities in Manhattan bars. There were allegations of drug use and of being what used to be called, in politer days of yore, "loose." She also began missing scheduled appearances.

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