Pageantry takes one step forward, three steps back
Purpose, diversity and commitment to community — these are the messages that pageants across the globe have adopted and are determined to promote. Hundreds of women worldwide dedicate their minds, bodies, and time into evolving themselves into the best versions of themselves so that they can serve as brand ambassadors of their countries and communities to spread these messages to the masses.
Pageantry is nothing new. Its roots stems all the way back to 17th Century Medieval Europe and began as a celebration of beauty. Back then, these beauty pageants would take place during the May Day celebrations and a May Day Queen would be crowned who would then be known as the “Queen of Beauty.”
However a new flavor in pageantry has emerged. As pageantry has continued to grow and make an impact on the global media sphere as an icon of beauty and glamour pageantry has also evolved into placing greater emphasis and importance to the beauty that lies within rather than just the superficiality. In recent years, many major pageants such as the Miss World Organization has made bold changes to make pageantry more inclusive to different kinds of women and spread the message of having a philanthropic purpose and commitment to community. In 2014, the Miss World Organization did this by removing the swimsuit competition from their pageant. This was a huge step towards female empowerment because it directly shows a desire to display women for who they are rather than what their bodies look like. Other major pageants such as Miss Teen USA has followed a similar path. In the 2016 installment of Miss Teen USA, the swimwear portion was replaced by athletic wear to place focus on feminism and equality and celebrate women’s commitment to living a healthy lifestyle and physical fitness.
And with this change, there has been a change in the types of women that compete in these pageants. Contrary to older counterparts who typically were confined to just the world of modelling and entertainment, pageant women today come from all walks of life: doctors, lawyers, CEOs and more. In fact, the current Miss USA, Kara McCullough, is a nuclear scientist.
However, despite all these advancements towards diversity and the celebration of womanhood, there now also has been a rise in older pageant viewers wanting to see a shift back to traditional pageantry to enhance the viewing experience by going back to roots and placing greater emphasis on outwardly beauty.
While Miss World and Miss Teen USA have replaced their swimwear competitions, third largest international pageant, Miss Earth had a different idea. In their 2017 Miss Earth competition taking place in the Philippines right now, the Miss Earth Organization introduced a new area of competition called ‘Form and Figure Competition.’ In this competition, contestants were all featured in tiny white bikinis with very little left to the imagination and to aid to the image the women all had white veils covering their faces. As each woman took the stage and did their ramp walk all the audience had to see was the form and figures of each contestant.
As a woman who has held a local title within the Miss Earth Organization in the United States and who has worked to uphold the messages that this pageant stands for, this new area of competition does not sit well with me. The competition reduces these women to sexual objects in which they are evaluated based on what their bodies look like — which completely defeats the purpose of purpose that the pageant originally preached.
It is not an accurate depiction of these women and tells nothing about them or what they have to offer to the world. I have competed in pageants for close to five years and each pageant has grown me in all facets of life. I have become more knowledgeable regarding world events and social justice issues, I have served as a community ambassador for various causes, my interview skills have improved, and overall my confidence has grown tenfold. Pageantry has shaped me into the woman I am and gave me a platform to showcase my talents and be recognized on an international level. However, as a former local titleholder of the Miss Earth Organization who could have had the opportunity to be at the Miss Earth stage, I for the first time am happy I did not win the opportunity to do so because I would not want my worth to be reduced to what my faceless body looks like.
The Miss Earth Organization explicitly prides itself on its social media pages promoting environmental causes and their mission is “Beauty with Causes,” but the only causes that has been seen so far in the month long pageant is satisfying viewers with images of gorgeous girls. Almost in each day’s competition, contestants are always seen in swimwear. Even in the press presentation competition, the titleholders introduced themselves to the public while wearing bikinis. The emphasis on body has been a very prevalent theme in this competition and as a pageant girl who has competed in several different organizations that do not do the same this has been very cringing to watch. In fact in pageants such as Miss America the rules state that even swimsuits must be modest and cover the bottom; however, in the Miss Earth pageant, women can be seen in bikinis that do not provide adequate coverage.
Fortunately, I am not the only one to disagree with the Miss Earth Organizations actions. Prior to and after the Miss Earth Organization’s decision to introduce this area of competition there has been strong debate and backlash from both the feminist community and pageant community alike and a conversation has been started regarding whether other major pageants should consider a portion like this. Both the Pageant Planet and Missosology have posed questions to the great pageant community asking their insight on this portion and a lot of the remarks were very negative and spoke of objectification and exploitation of the contestants in the name of competition.
The most unsettling part that I find regarding the international competition and its components is that it was not common knowledge that the competition would take this form. In the local competitions and country level competitions there was only a solo swimsuit competition. Nowhere was it mentioned that the Form and Figure competition would be required or that women would constantly be paraded around wearing very little clothing. Alongside being a pageant titleholder, I am also a pageant owner and director who was interested in gaining franchise with the Miss Earth Organization and even in that agreement this information was not present. After analyzing this pageant, it definitely can be seen that this pageant is not a celebration of beauty but rather an advertisement of the world’s finest bodies.
Pageantry has had a profound impact on the lives of so many women by serving as a platform and source of publicity for women to have their voices heard and talents recognized and should continue to do the same for years to come in the same manner and not through a depiction of purely their bodies.
Edited by Maryam Elahi
