On perils of pageantries

PAGEANTRIES or ‘beauty contests’ as they are popularly called have over time gained prominence, with girls all over the world competing to win and be accorded a title in one form or the other. However, there will always be something disturbing about having women walking in the front of a fully-clothed audience in bikini and high heels. Yet, as an audience, we tend to enjoy the entertainment aspect of these competitions by applauding and voting while unconsciously neglecting the negativity that accompanies them. I once did too while growing up. I would stay up all night to watch the ‘Miss World’ contest on TV and would sometimes buy tickets to watch the locally hosted ones in my vicinity. The explosion of glitters, sequins, and over-the-top evening gowns as ladies walk in heels on a stage and in dresses that tight without falling wowed me. But now, that I see the underlying issues and the negative effects beauty contest has on women and the society at large, it beats me that such a sexist, degrading exercise does not only still exist but thrives on a global scale.

To begin with, nothing objectifies young women as much as beauty pageant. It parades these women around, commodifies them, and forces them to submit themselves to be judged simply based on their physical appearance. The participants’ overall attractiveness is surveyed before a panel of judges as they conduct themselves in a way to please the audience. Even though some of these pageants claim to not only be about beauty, but also about intellect and empowerment, we hardly think it necessary to test someone’s intellect by making her answer empty questions while wearing a swimsuit, or to judge someone’s artistic talent by mentioning her body measurements every time she goes on stage.

In the same fashion, the criteria by which women are chosen or made eligible to compete in the pageants in the first place are very problematic as they set the standards and norms of who, what, and how someone should look like to become “beautiful”. To be specific, contestants are expected to be between the ages of 18 and 25, a certain height and weight and their body measurements must not exceed a certain number of inches. Other times, pageants also often reinforce ideas about how long the hair on their head and bodies should be, the lightness of the skin, the makeup they are supposed to apply and the clothes to be worn. Consequently, these restrictions promote a narrow and limiting conception of beauty and already tell of the overall objective of selling women cheap and promoting a distorted view of them and their conception of beauty. Invariably, women and girls who do not fit into this spurious and demeaning ideal box are made to feel singled out and excluded from the narrative. Hence, they are socialized subconsciously to evaluate their self-worth based solely on their physical appearance.

To put it differently, beauty contest enforces an inappropriate body perception for both men and women to their detriment. Unlike the majority of “average” women, the beauty of such contest participants is glamorised and cherished even though it is essentially rehearsed. Though pageants participants represent the absolute minority of the society, their appearances set high, unrealistic standards for how women of all ages should look like and as a result, women and girls are affected by such illusion and are often seen focusing on “what to wear”, “how much make-up to be used”, “how thin they should be”, and the concern that the breasts/ butts are either too big or too small and so on.

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Another key negative often overlooked however is the sexual harassment in the world of pageantry. Although its effect is not easily seen and felt like that of a virus as many victims would rather endure the abuse in silence than risk being disqualified, it is nonetheless, a thing to be concerned about. It has become almost impossible for a lady to genuinely win a beauty pageant without either gracing the beds of someone or greasing the palm of the other. Or even, both. Sometimes, the organisers take advantage of the desperation of the contestants by actually sleeping with more than half of the girls, if not all of them, promising each one of them the crown that only one person will eventually wear. In one particular instance, it will be recalled that in 2016, Miss Cynthia Ugbah, winner of the ‘Queen of Trust International 2015’ resigned her position over alleged claims of sexual harassment by the organisers of the pageant and this generated a lot of mixed reactions from the public.

On the whole and against the background of the foregoing, the complete annihilation or stoppage of beauty pageants wouldn’t be a bad idea altogether. However, it doesn’t seem very likely that this would happen as it has become a part of many women’s lives influencing paradigm about who and what is deemed beautiful. This is indeed very unfortunate to see women coming to rely on what ordinarily dehumanises and demeans them.  No doubt, in times past, pageants were used to showcase women who were presented and seen as representing their respective culture, but as time went on they grew to include charity and social works. Unfortunately, the transformation has meant that now we have pageants being synonymous with the creation of a culture of superficiality that is rapidly spreading through the continuing support of many who have failed to see and realise the dangers inherent in these demeaning spectacles.

Beyond their entertaining nature and value, it has to be realised that beauty pageants are harmful in terms of setting inappropriate beauty standards, encouraging the schema of evaluating people by their appearance, and affecting public opinion negatively as the contests unabashedly seek to promote the notion and suggestion that women should rely solely on their good looks to succeed. Again, beauty pageants are archetypes of how sexism continues to be a part of our everyday lives and reduces women to objects to be judged and compared based primarily on physical appearance. This is why they should attract our continuing focus on their negative implications and effects on women and the entire society.

• Yakubu is with the Department of Mass Communication, Kogi State University, Anyigba.