Miss Papua New Guinea Stripped of Her Crown for TikTok Twerking Video
Miss Papua New Guinea has been stripped of her crown after sharing a video of herself twerking on TikTok, with critics saying the incident reveals a deep-seated culture of misogyny in the country.
Lucy Maino, 25, who has also served as co-captain of Papua New Guinea’s women’s football team, faced intense online harassment after she shared a video of herself twerking on the video-sharing app TikTok.
Though twerking videos are common on the application, Maino’s now-deleted video was singled out by critics who said it was not fitting for a “role model” to share a video of herself dancing in this way.
The video was downloaded from her private account and shared on social media platforms and YouTube, where thousands of people piled on to criticise Maino.
After the video and the backlash to it, Maino was “released” from her duties by the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG (MPIP PNG) committee this week.
“Our core purpose is empowerment of women. We are a unique
pageant style platform that promotes cultural heritage, traditional values and sharing through tourism about our country and people,” the committee said in a statement.
“MPIP PNG promotes the virtues of confidence, self-worth, integrity, and community service with a parallel focus on education.”
Allan Bird, the governor of East Sepik and co-chair of the Coalition of Parliamentarians against Gender-Based Violence, denounced the online harassment of Maino, writing on social media: “What kind of society condemns the torture and killing of women yet get upset when a young woman does a dance video?”