There she is Miss America.

You're listening to BBC World Service. I'm Debbie Turner Bell, Miss America 1990,

and you're listening to reinventing Miss America as we explore the future of America's oldest pageant as it makes changes in the wake of the Me Too movement.

For she may turn out to be the Queen of Femininity. I entered my very first preliminary in the Miss America system when I was a junior in high school.

I was not a little pageant girl.

I had no interest in frilly things. I wanted to be a doctor,

to be a veterinarian. But I heard about this program that was the largest source of scholarship

for women in the world. And I saw it as a way of getting me to my goal of becoming a veterinarian, which is quite an expensive education.

And there she is walking on air she is. I fell in love with the ideals, goal setting and confidence and being able to present oneself

in an intelligent way.

It was a seven-year journey, took 11 tries in two different states for me to win a

state pageant and make it to the Miss America stage.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome your new Miss America, Debbie Turner, Miss Missouri.

This is an iconic program

that has been a part of American culture

for almost 100 years.

And in that time, the program has evolved and changed as women's

roles in society have evolved and changed.

But now it's at a tipping point.

Some would say a crisis point.

It may not be, and it may never be,

the same way it was when it was in those golden years, but it is still such a precious

...