Is beauty pageantry a way of objectifying women?

Beauty pageants are usually about female beauty, poise, and elegance. When push comes to shove, it might sometimes feel that it is about objectifying and sexualizing the female folks. In this week’s edition of WhatsApp Conversation, we walk through the labyrinth of the beauty pageantry and whether or not it objectifies women.

 

Tosin Awoniyi

When looking into whether or not pageants are objectifying, we should try to find opinions from both sides.

Positive Sides: When children grow up participating in beauty pageants, It can teach them that their physical beauty (as determined by others) is more important than their personal happiness or comfort. Many people who participated in beauty pageants say it makes them feel good about themselves and also encourages women to fit into a narrow or unrealistic ideal of beauty.

Negative Sides: The organisers of beauty pageants do reward some women for fitting into narrow criteria of what constitutes inner and outer beauty. Women who do not fit into the criteria are always excluded for their failure to meet arbitrary standards of beauty. Despite any measure of inner beauty involved, the contest reduces a woman’s or girl’s value down to her physical appearance.

 

Enoch Olajubi

The answer is yes. However, it depends on which definition you are asking me about. I would say it depends on the pageant. If it is #1, If you are parading them around in a swimwear judging them on their bodies only, then yes, absolutely, and let’s not sugar coat that. If it’s #2, if it’s the culmination of a beautiful, smart, intelligent, hardworking woman taking her moment of confidence to walk across the stage express her inner beauty in the concrete form of a beautiful dress, fabulous hairstyle, and expressive and warm smile, then absolutely.

 

Jumoke Salako

No, I don’t agree that beauty pageants are a way of objectifying women. Though it may seem so because an important point that matters is the physical appearance -height, beauty, and other similar parameters. But there is much more to it. Confidence, wit, presence of mind, at the moment response are also taken into account. So, basically, in beauty pageants, women don’t just play the role of mere attractive drawing room objects, but they are present as a blend of many important qualities.

 

Foyekemi Akinyemi was Miss Oyo State in 2015

Well, I never felt “objectified.” That’s from the point of view of a participant. I entered them willingly, no one forced me, and as far as I know, no one forced anyone to be in the audience.

Pageants can offer a lot of benefits to contestants who are savvy enough to take advantage of them. However, to each their own. If you don’t like them or have qualms about them, don’t participate.

I also think there is a difference between objectifying and sexualizing. There is nothing wrong with admiring a person’s physical attractiveness. There is a problem with thinking that is all there is to them as a person or thinking that their sexuality exists solely for your enjoyment.

 

Olamide Olayiwola

On the surface – I don’t think so. What people have made of it – I think they’ve abused it greatly, and now, it affects women negatively. It’s a job. It’s a profession. And it’s not just about beauty; I’ve seen people emerge first, and they are not so “beautiful” compared to their counterparts. It’s just like the other forms of entertainment, or I’d even say it’s like sport. Like I said, it’s often designed to be more than the face It has in it – education (You need to be smart too because you’d be asked questions).

They judge your composure (which is a great thing even outside of the competition) e.t.c. So, it reveals things other than facial beauty. However, it becomes a problem when people become too fixated on the beauty or shape or whatever and choose not to see beyond that. It has a way of just indirectly making people see you as ONLY a fine face. It puts the one who chooses the employee in a spot where she has to go the extra mile to prove that she has more to offer than just her fine face or figure, But I mean, just like other jobs, these are the disadvantages of this profession. As humans, we just need to know better, do better, and not reduce people to fine things but see them as the whole package they present to you.

 

Mrs. Frasisca Ogunlade is the Convener, Face of Beauty and Bride

Beauty pageants do not in any way objectify women; the origin of beauty pageantry is to celebrate feminine values and the beauty of womanhood. Along the line, just like in any other industry, the platform of pageantry began to garner sponsors in the forms of promoters, and this, in a way, almost tainted the missions of the pageantry in itself.

In recent times, we have seen a return of beauty pageantry to its original intent. In the pageantry I convene, for example, the queens are put through rigorous processes in a bid to refine them into queens. It goes beyond being beautiful, there is public relation skills, entrepreneurship skills. Beauty pageantry should not objectify women; rather, it should celebrate them as the amazon of the Twenty-First Century.

Next week’s question is, what is the bravest thing you have ever seen someone do? To be part of the next edition, send your response to 08136601345 via WhatsApp or SMS.

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