Miss America contestant goes viral after accidentally flashing crotch on air

Megan Swanson (Miss Nebraska), became the victim of a rather unfortunate camera angle during the live broadcast of the recent Miss America broadcast - where Miss New York, Kira Kazantsev, was crowned as the winner. 

Naturally, it was immediately shared on social media sites like YouTube and Twitter, according to Gossip Cop.

According to Huffington Post, the contestants are normally allowed to leave the stage after finding out they’re out of the running, but this year all the contestants were expected to stay on stage, smiling their best (possibly fake) smiles.

While host Chris Harrison (best known for hosting The Bachelor) spoke about the evening wear section of the competition, Megan was seen leaning over to talk to one of the other contestants.

The incident drew lots of horrible comments on many social media sites, most of them ridiculing Swanson:

Oh #MissNebraska... You're going to cringe so hard when you watch that back.

— Jessica Gonzalez (@HessicaGonzalez) September 15, 2014

Wait, I thought Missouri was the Show Me state. ?????? #MissNebraska

— Ashley O'Brien (@ashley_obrien) September 15, 2014

A lot of them were shaming:

Someone at @MissAmericaOrg needs to tell #MissNebraska to close her legs.

— Coffee and Cupcakes (@stridestruggles) September 15, 2014

I'm not understanding why she sits like that in a skirt... #missnebraska

— Stef Grundy (@stefgrundy) September 15, 2014

Someone at @MissAmericaOrg needs to tell #MissNebraska to close her legs.

— Coffee and Cupcakes (@stridestruggles) September 15, 2014

While a handful of people voiced their concern about the trend:

I'm disappointed and discusted in every women posting about the #missnebraska incident. We have all had something like that happen.

— Kodi Lee (@KodiLeeBaumann) September 15, 2014

Women shaming other women needs to stop. Those critiquing #MissNebraska have clearly never worn a skirt #weallshowourpanties

— Julianne Weatherall (@theNotoriousjWe) September 15, 2014

The amount of shame towards Megan for unknowingly flashing the audience is absolutely disgusting and also, well, mean. Should she be blamed for the fact that America got to see up her skirt during the live broadcast? No, it wasn’t intentional. She was made to wear that incredibly short skirt by the organisers, and how was she to know that her nether regions were going to seen on TV? Should she be blamed for the rest of the world seeing her faux paus after the screenshot was shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram? Or the clip being uploaded to YouTube? No. Because it was done without her consent and meant to humiliate and shame her for something that clearly wasn’t her fault.

Why does the world think it’s okay to shame her? Is it because she’s a beauty queen? Is it because she was on TV? Or because she was a woman who is a beauty queen who was on TV participating in a beauty pageant?

Just because she’s famous, or on TV doesn’t mean we have a right to her, or images of her crotch for that matter. We don’t own her. We don’t have the right to humiliate her.

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