The beauty pageant as a concept is receiving a lot of flak in recent times. Many feel that it is a way for women to showcase their talent, poise and personalities; even a stepping stone for meaningful careers. However others view these as an anachronism – promoting the objectification and grading of women based on their bodily attributes. A couple of recent headlines about the snatching of beauty crowns – literally and figuratively – for choices women make, reignite the conversation around beauty pageants.
After being crowned Mrs Sri Lanka, Pushpika de Silva had to undergo the ignominy of having her crown snatched off her head. The reigning Mrs World, Caroline Jurie announced that she was taking the step of removing the crown because de Silva is a divorcee and only married women are permitted to participate in the pageant. Former model Chula Padmendra is also seen in the video, assisting the removal of the crown. The crown was later restored to de Silva, after the clarification about her marital status; that she is indeed married and not divorced.
In a separate recent episode, Lucy Maino was ‘dethroned’ because of a twerking video she posted of herself. She is the reigning Miss Papua New Guinea (because of COVID, the 2019 winner continued to be the titleholder for another year) and she posted this video of herself on TikTok. Subsequently, she faced online harassment and was stripped of her title. Apparently, the video was ‘inappropriate’ behaviour from someone who is supposed to be a ‘role model’, a cultural ambassador and an advocate for women.
Both these events shine a light on the misogyny that exists at all levels of society. It also draws attention to the problematic nature of beauty pageants in particular. The Mrs Sri Lanka fracas was supposed to be for married women. But apparently, women who had had an unfortunate experience with the institution of marriage; are disqualified. This mindset owes itself to the social power structures that seek to maintain themselves under the guise of ‘tradition’, ‘family values' and so on. More often than not, it is women who become trapped in intolerable situations because there is still so much stigma surrounding women who choose to leave a bad marriage.
In the Miss Papua New Guinea scandal, we are told that doing a certain type of dance apparently disqualifies a woman from being able to be a role model, cultural ambassador etc. This is yet again based on a mindset that judges women based on various irrelevancies. How does dancing – even an admittedly provocative dance – preclude a woman from being what her title supposedly entails? Is this just not one more way for society and those claiming to speak on its behalf telling women what to wear, how to behave?
While I support the women who have been ‘dethroned’ for some or other reason, why would this even surprise me? The whole system of beauty pageants is based on the objectification of women and on pandering to the male gaze.
It is bad enough that women are paraded like livestock, dressed in various outfits including swimsuits to better assess their physical attributes. Then there is the ignominy of being made to answer banal questions on the spot and subsequently being subjected to scrutiny and ridicule literally from the whole world.
These contests also perpetuate stereotypes. Women come in all shapes and sizes; but pageants perpetuate the stereotypical idea of what it means to be beautiful: being tall, light-skinned, with long hair and a slim waist. Even though we have seen more varied race representation and more colours of the spectrum in pageants recently, being slim and long-limbed remains the ideal of ‘beauty’. At a time when women are struggling for social equality and gender equity, what relevance do these pageants have?
As we try to rise above objectification and body shaming, surely beauty pageants should be a thing of the past? Then perhaps Mrs De Silva wouldn’t have to give a tearful interview and nor would Lucy Maino have to bear the brunt of uploading a dance video of herself.
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