An ugly man contest is a competition which inverts the concept of a

beauty contest A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the Physical attractiveness, physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of Per ...

by having men compete for the title of ugliest. Such contests were usually done in jest, and votes were more reflective of popularity rather than actual physical unattractiveness. The contests were used as a fundraising vehicle, charging money for each vote cast. In Australia, a 1917 ugly man competition led to the formation of the Ugly Men's Voluntary Worker's Association of Western Australia Inc., a grassroots charitable organization which raised funds to help soldiers and their families in the aftermath of World War I. Ugly man contests were a feature of

box supper Box social is a term for a social event that was widely used in the early 1900s with varying definitions in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. American usage In the U.S. state of Vermont the tradition is that women decorate a card ...

s (and similar events, such as

pie supper A pie supper is a social gathering where pies are auctioned to raise money, often for a local school or fire department. Pie suppers are predominantly associated with Ozark culture, and provided a major source of funding for many of the region's ...

s or ice cream suppers) in the United States, often coinciding with a parallel "pretty girl" contest. Augustana Observer 1958-02-10 crowning

Ugly man contests were regularly held on college campuses in the United States by fraternities, including

Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a coeducational service fraternity. It is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of over 25,00 ...

, the largest fraternity in the United States. The APO tradition began at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

, and by 1953 had spread to nearly every chapter in the country. In April 1991, a fraternity at

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...

held an "ugly woman" contest, in which 18 fraternity members dressed in

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...

, with one also donning

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people, Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of ...

. The incident caused controversy on campus, and led the dean to suspend the fraternity for two years, though this punishment was later overturned by a federal judge on

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

grounds.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, url=https://thebigsmoke.com.au/2019/12/22/the-papers-called-their-fundraising-a-moral-disgrace-but-the-ugly-men-saved-australias-poor-from-hopelessness/, title=The papers called their fundraising a "moral disgrace", but the Ugly Men saved Australia's poor from hopelessness, work=The Big Smoke, date=22 December 2019, last=van Teeseling, first=Ingeborg {{cite web, url=https://www.overtoncountynews.com/lifestyles/stories-from-the-past---old-fashioned-box-suppers/article_1d584262-3112-11ec-a45d-eb7406926cf7.html, title=Stories From the Past - Old Fashioned Box Suppers, work=Overton County News, date=19 October 2021 {{cite web, url=https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2009/10/giving-back-old-school-style1, title=Giving back: old-school style, work=The Eagle, date=28 October 2009, last=Parnass, first=Sarah {{cite journal, journal=Boys' Life, title=Who's the Ugliest Man?, date=October 1953, page=30, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYu1LF9QvlkC&pg=PA30 {{cite journal, journal=New York Times, title=U.S. JUDGE UPHOLDS SPEECH ON CAMPUS, date=29 August 1991, last=Depalma, first=Anthony {{cite book, title=Tales from Kentucky One-room School Teachers, last=Montell, first=William Lynwood, page=196, year=2011, publisher=University Press of Kentucky, isbn=9780813129792 Ugliness Beauty pageants