Transgender contestant Jenne Tereckova’s fame from Miss Universe Canada fiasco has started debate on relevance of Miss Worlds and Miss Universe beauty pageants.
Recent debate started on for the validity of Transgender participating in feminine beauty pageants. Flipping through TOI and glancing on blogs, debate has is still on and is doing round at very axis of gender identity and principle of equality and justice being advocate.
Whether a transgender be allowed to participate in Beauty Pageants? It is particularity because of Canadian beauty Jenna Teleckova, who went gender reassignment surgery at 19, is first being disqualified from the final round of Miss Universe Canada, and later, eventfully, is allowed to participate. And, now Miss Universe organization owned by Donald Trump has allowed transgender, from now onwards, allowed to participate and become beauty queens, officially.
Though Jenna doesn’t needs any title now, as she has generated tremendous following on Twitter and Facebook with people writing about her, and is a celebrity now. Media giants like NYT, Washington Post are writing blogs on her.
During this whole issue, I was posed with some questions, while trying to answer those, I think have made an opinion on beauty pageants the very issue which has given new light to the debate of transsexual and transgender identity.
Famine Beauty - is it the idea of holding a la Miss World or Miss Universe?
If the idea of holding a Miss World or Miss Universe, is to judge the physical beauty combined with some questions here and there, then I for that sake support Jenna Teleckova being at the Miss Universe Canada and why not a person with qualified possession such standards of contemporary idealism of feminine beauty be allowed to participate.
Womanhood – if celebrating womanhood is essence of Miss World or Miss Universe?
And, if the central idea of judging is womanhood, and celebrating it, then I think mere display of body doesn’t serve purpose. Womanhood, in our Indian culture embroils every role which a female takes as daughter, sister, wife and mother; and Motherhood, as former Miss Universe said in her final answer to the pageant, becoming mother shall be greatest pleasure in her life, for which she looks forward. Later this beauty queen adopted a girl child named ‘Rene’ taking it from English word Renaissance.
Culturally in India, being mother it is most revered status to womanhood, where people associate rivers, goddesses and nation itself to motherly identity. Hence, alas, these Miss Worlds and Miss Universe are good for multinational national companies but no good to celebrate that true womanhood.
So debate is though still on, with these argument, I wonder if Mrs Worlds are more relevant that Miss Worlds.
Liked it. Good article Ashishji.
ReplyDeleteGreat to know that you're writing on such varied fields.