Over the years, the Miss America beauty pageant has been wrought with controversy. From falsified residency to disputed vote tabulation, the contest has seen it all.

That said, the organization has made attempts over the years to improve its reputation by forcing the winner to give up the title. The most famous and most memorable example of the organization’s “save-face attempts” was the 1984 confiscation of Vanessa Williams’ crown.

The competition for the 1984 Miss America crown saw the first crowning of an African-American Miss America, Vanessa Williams. Throughout the competition, Williams had won two preliminary rounds and wowed judges. When it came time for the finals, it was a clear choice to the judges who should be the next Miss America. And so, on September 17, 1983, Vanessa Williams was crowned Miss America 1984. Little did she know what lay in store for her future.10 months into her reign as Miss America, Williams received an anonymous phone call saying that nude photos of her were to appear in Penthouse magazine. Williams believed that the photos, taken two years earlier, had been destroyed and hadn’t disclosed their release. The media devoured this controversy and, within 10 days, pressured by the Miss America organization, Williams resigned her crown.

Vanessa Williams went on to become a multiple award-winning entertainer, rebounding quite well from the scandal 31 years ago. The icing on the cake of her success happened last week, when the CEO of Miss America publicly apologized for Williams’ ostracism from the organization, stating, “None of us currently in the organization were involved then. On behalf of today’s organization, I want to apologize to you and to your mother, Miss Helen Williams. I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be,” in effect disavowing the event had ever occurred. Williams is now a judge for Miss America 2016, happy, I’m sure, as a clam.

That’s just fine and dandy. A woman’s life was rocked by an event, and although it partly was in her control, most of it wasn’t. Fortunately, she was able to overcome the adversity by using the same talent that won her the crown to excel in a career as an entertainer. She has made herself a success, making the apology of the Miss America organization completely redundant.

Nonetheless, I think the real issue here isn’t the fact that the organization has gone back on a decision that helped protect their image. It’s the fact that there’s a repeated problem of their image needing to be “protected.”

Beauty pageants are, in my opinion, sexist competitions that objectify woman, preventing them from being viewed as intelligent beings who can contribute more to society than just their appearance and traditional female talents.

The beauty pageant system is a flawed one. Every year, I see at least one article about a contestant in a major pageant being pelted with criticism due to some scandal. If a beauty competition makes a decision on a scandal to help save face, I believe they should stick to their decision and not overturn it. If there are going to be pageants, then they should have some dignity, not be wrought by scandal—especially when the former competitor has already made a successful career, avenging the scandal.