Just
before the end of last year (2015), the world witnessed the harshest
embarrassment when Steve Harvey named the woman from Colombia Miss Universe,
when the actual winner was from Philippines. Well, that’s what everyone thought
was embarrassing. For me, the most awkward thing was that beauty pageants still
exist. The contests are an old-fashioned reminder of exactly what we don’t want
for women, and they should have no place in our future.
Many
people argue that beauty pageants are empowering and I agree because they offer
opportunities and scholarships. But what does that really mean? Does that mean
that only beautiful people deserve opportunities and scholarships? What kind of
empowerment picks and chooses a certain type of people? When positions of power
in society are male dominated, winning a beauty pageant really makes no
difference to the power relations in one’s country. Beauty contests de-humanize
women by focusing on their physical appearance, which has everything to do with
genetics and nothing that the contestant herself can control.
Beauty
pageants send messages to young girls who may think that being beautiful is an
accomplishment, that being chosen to participate is somehow a special honour to
be a part of a contest that parades women as commodities. Perpetuating sexism
by sexualisation of young girls and by judging women based on their looks is
never going to be just harmless fun. I wish I could say that each contestant in
any beauty contest is intelligent, cares about international issues, and wants
to make a lasting difference in the world – but I cannot. Not because I doubt
it is true, but because the judges decide to focus more on how hot these women
are, and how well they can walk on stilettos. Only after cutting them down to
the most ‘deserving’ five do they start asking the important questions. I
suppose it is crucial to make sure a woman looks incredible in a bikini before
asking her any questions about war or global warming. Maybe next time Barack
Obama or Julius Malema want to comment on politics, we need to make sure that
their beach bods measure up, too.
Some
may say that these pageants are about celebrating the female body. Since when
is universal female beauty, an image of a small-waisted, long straight haired,
fair skinned, thin long legged, pouty-lipped young woman? Considering that only
a few women fit this description, why do we celebrate this image? If the
argument is that beauty pageants are for confident women, what exactly are
these women confident about? Their good looks which are a result of genetics
which appeal to local definition of beauty? Tweezing, waxing, dieting,
foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eye-shadow, uncomfortable shoes, skimpy clothes,
smiling endlessly – going through all these just to look good enough to be
crowned the best?
Celebrating
female beauty is problematic when they are based on sexist, racist, homophobic
and able bodied notions of female beauty which excludes the vast majority of
women. In December 2014, we were supposed to celebrate Bonang Matheba as the
first Black South African woman to appear on the cover of Glamour Magazine. A
magazine that was launched in South Africa in 2004. Is it possible that for
over a decade, Glamour could not find a Black woman worth celebrating? And even
then, Queen B appeared on that cover because she fits the societal (White)
standards of beauty – lean, straight hair (weave) and tall. If we want to
empower women, let us start by getting rid of beauty pageants and celebrating
all types of women. Not just the ones that fit the box society creates for
women.
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