Crowning glory
Is it time beauty pageants take a fresh look at their standards of beauty and perfection?
“Pageants should be inclusive; categories should change”
Pageants really open up doors for girls across the world. But I definitely feel that the categories should be changed. To judge somebody on the basis of a ‘beautiful smile’ or ‘best body’, that’s something that needs to be updated, because beauty standards used to be patriarchal and regressive and now they’re much more inclusive. I also feel that it’s important for pageants to support and promote healthy and fit bodies, rather than the age-old ‘perfect hourglass’ or thin body structures.
As for the word ‘beauty’ in ‘beauty pageants’—beauty is so different; how do you define something that is so variable?
But at the end of the day, you get to travel the world and become the voice for a lot of causes. At that point, it’s only your knowledge and intelligence that helps you. Representing your country on an international platform is definitely a great honour, and having a Miss Universe from India is a huge deal, because you put the country back on the world map.
But, having said that, with the world that we live in, it definitely has to be more inclusive. Miss Universe has opened its entries to transgender women now, and I would love to see a trans queen win the pageant internationally.
Ushoshi Sengupta is Miss Universe India 2010, and represented India at Miss Universe in Las Vegas, Nevada
“MISS UNIVERSE HAS OPENED ITS ENTRIES TO TRANSGENDER WOMEN NOW, AND I WOULD LOVE TO SEE A TRANS QUEEN WIN THE PAGEANT INTERNATIONALLY” — USHOSHI SENGUPTA
“MISS INDIA NOW HAS PAN-INDIA REPRESENTATION, AND IS SETTING A MOVING PRECEDENT THAT CELEBRATES INCLUSIVITY AND INDIVIDUALITY” —POOJA CHOPRA