WORLD PEACE, PLEASE!
Why all the negativity over the new Miss America? Beauty pageant fan ANKITA VARMA says haters are not seeing the pageants for what they really are – a celebration of diversity.
It’s time to stop hating beauty pageants and contestants.
Here’s the thing. I’ve loved watching beauty pageants for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I lapped it all up – the glitzy gowns, the jaunty catwalks – and till this day, I admire the confidence that contestants have. (Honestly, no amount of riches could ever convince me to take to a catwalk in my bikini.)
Despite my love for it, I’ve always kept my fascination with beauty pageants quiet, for fear of the reactions. Friends who did find out about it have jibed me for “cheering on plastic bimbos”. But the recent backlash surrounding Nina Davuluri (the first American of Indian descent to win Miss America) has finally got me riled up enough to publicly stand up to the vitriol flung in the direction of pageant contestants.
To fill you in, Nina – who’s studying to be a doctor, by the way – got called everything from an airhead to a terrorist when she won the crown. Frankly, it’s a shocking response from a country that promotes the all-inclusive American dream. The only consolation in the whole debacle: The waves of support that followed, celebrating Nina’s win and encouraging an appreciation of all types of beauty.
BEAUTY IN DIVERSITY
Now don’t get me wrong – I accept that pageants are fundamentally about physical attractiveness. After all, girls who participate are good-lookers with perfected permutations of shiny hair, skinny limbs and toothy smiles. But to say that pageants are only about looks – this is where I feel the argument is antiquated.
Contestants these days include doctors, lawyers, teachers and even soldiers with big dreams – women who are proud of their backgrounds and the colour of their skin. Perhaps they may have all come from the same mould back in the day: Caucasian beauties with fair skin, blue eyes and golden hair. But in the past decade, contestants from countries like Angola, Japan and the Dominican Republic have emerged as Miss Universe, thus shattering the idea that there is a set notion of conventional beauty.
And it’s heartening to see that there’s more to these women than their dazzling smiles. Most of the winners have gone on to raise awareness for issues like HIV and give motivational speeches after relinquishing that sparkly crown. Ex-pageant queens Diane Sawyer, Halle Berry, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and our very own Eunice Olsen have gone on to become role models for our generation.
I hope to see beauty pageants continue in this vein – to be more inclusive and celebrate women no matter what their size, skin colour or creed. To the critics, I say: Don’t see pageants as a complete abomination. Focus instead on using them as a testing ground for radical inclusion. And it’s about time we highlighted contestants’ contributions to society instead of their curves.
I also say: Let’s applaud the confident, beautiful women representing their countries and working for their communities. Maybe, one day, we’ll live in a world where such pageants can actually change the way societies think about women, diversity and beauty.
Back in Primary 4, an accident during recess left me with a gash above my right eyebrow that required a trip to the emergency room and 14 stitches. Given that I was 10, you’d think my concern would have been the intimidating needle the doctor was wielding. Instead, my only question to him was a forlorn “Do you think I’ll still be able to become Miss Universe?”.