Beauty Pageant Should Remain but the Format Must Change
By: Midori The Sea
Tags: Empowerment, Society, Culture, Feminism, Equality

It’s Time to Upgrade Beauty Pageants

It is obvious to everyone that there’s an element of objectifying women in beauty contests and such absurdity is no longer acceptable in today’s standard. However, I argue that it is the execution of the show that makes it problematic, the spirit of a beauty pageant is not, and should continue to exist.

Women have been seen as inferior to men, this is an undisputable point based on facts, the legal system and cultural bias. This is also why historically there’s no male beauty pageant because men’s physical attributes are ranked far less important than women’s.

Having male beauty pageants might be entertaining, but it’s not a solution, because we shouldn’t switch the objectification to men. The message of a beauty pageant should be that looks is one of the many attributes of a person, ranking equally among intelligence, kindness, personalities, etc.

But Girls Are Confused Still

A-list actress Jennifer Aniston has a rocky relationship with her model mother Nancy Dow. Dow was all about the looks and Aniston was subject to a lot of criticisms and judgements based on her looks growing up and this has a fundamental impact on her self-esteem and confidence. Luckily, Aniston has found strength and confidence eventually, and become a strong role model she is today.

Fortunately, the media has shifted to promote “all women are beautiful” as feminism gains power in recent years. Examples include an attack on a weightloss product advertisement that says “are you beach body ready?” and includes a skinny blonde model in a yellow bikini. Surprisingly, we don’t have to be skinny to go to a beach. This backlash was a wake-up call and has helped to change how women see their body.

But the obsession with women’s beauty is deeply rooted. The internet continues to go crazy with singer Adele’s weight loss and gossip magazines are still featuring body shape stories heavily.

What we see here is that conflicting messages have been pushed to young people and it’s more confusing than ever. That’s not too different from what Jennifer Aniston experienced years ago, and this needs to change.

The Message: Develop a Positive Self-Esteem and Healthy Relationship with Our Body

Note the key point is that it’s great to be pretty, and it’s okay to want to be prettier, but the pre-requisite is to develop a healthy relationship with your body at any given point of time.

There’s nothing wrong about needing to lose or gain weight, but do it healthily and don’t hate yourself during the process. Embrace different body shapes and forms, rather than a single, most likely unobtainable standard. Allow a diverse representation of women of all skin tones, hair colours, shapes, whatever in media, so girls from all backgrounds can be inspired.

This is the impact a beauty contest should make today. It should not be entertainment for men to lust over skinny women in bikinis. It should be a contest to create role models with positive self-esteem and a healthy relationship with our bodies. A beauty contest should aim to address this particular issue and make positive impacts on the female audience.

Why Beauty Pageants is the Best Place for This Message

First and foremost, a beauty contest is about beauty, that means it shouldn’t beat around the bushes and should address the key question about looks.

Also, beauty pageants is glamourous and fun! It involves Q&A and talent sessions about the contestants themselves. So it is more sophisticated than a cat walk show, and less drama-focused than a reality show. There’s nothing not to look about a beauty contest.

These competitions, especially the national and international ones, should make a point learning about how the contestants view their looks and bodies. It should touch on topics from diet to plastic surgery, and also to talk about how to build self-confidence.

The audience, especially young ladies, should learn personal stories from people who are brave enough to participate in these contests and are vulnerable enough to share their experience. People should long to become a beauty pageant not only means they are the hottest this year, but also the most eloquent in spreading a positive message about body images.