There have some really wonderful reviews written on this topic voicing opinions on all fronts – for, against and in between. That hardly leaves me with anything worthwhile to mutter but I’ll still give it a shot for whatever it’s worth because I know you poor folks have no choice but to read it;-)
What is “Beauty”?
I honestly feel that the very word(s) “Beauty Contest” is/are peculiar in nature. Much before I made ogling at women my primary part-time profession, I had a lengthy argument with our English teacher while in my 9th class. The hot topic was of course, “What is the definition of Beauty?” After haggling for more than an hour, our exasperated sir finally convinced me that the word “Beauty” could not be used for describing women. His reasoning(which I found to be quite logical) was that “Beauty” is used to describe something that is a sight to behold, but is permanent in nature. It is therefore quite right to say that “this is a beautiful painting” or “the scenery at Switzerland is really beautiful”. When I tried to quip in by voicing the concerns of the more deadlier species among us, our sir comforted me by saying that they would have to make do with a less glamorous adjective like “pretty”. I can’t help thinking about that incident whenever the words “Beauty Contest” are mentioned in the media and chuckle to myself.
What’s there to “contest” about it?
It’s my personal opinion that all this hullabaloo about having contests or pageants where young ladies are selected to strut their looks and “hour-glass shaped” figures are nothing but smart gimmicks on the part of MNC and Indian cosmetics companies to exploit the huge potential market for their products. Do consider this seriously – what happens when Aishwarya Rai or Sushmita Sen win the Miss World/Universe titles? They are immediately lapped up with obscene amounts of money by signing them on for appearing in commercials where they are made to smile for their 10 seconds of fame. After a few commercials, some adventurous film-makers sign them on for movies and that’s it! The models get their money and fame, the cosmetic companies sell more products if the ads are successful and the movie producers get a decent return on their investment.
Pray, tell me, is it really necessary to have so much hype and publicity because we want to ogle at these ladies? What do WE get at the end of it all? Is Pakistan going to kiss and makeup with India? Is the economy going to reverse northwards? Some might say that these beauty queens also act as “Ambassadors of Goodwill” for the UNO and other global organizations. The moot point is, where do they concentrate more – on using their celeb status to do social service or for modeling? I don’t even have to answer that question.
God has created all of us and bestowed us with features and colours such that no two people look remotely alike in all ways. Ideally, a contest should be between two equals. What’s the logic of having beauty contests between many people, when one has broader lips than the other, or if the waistline of one is slimmer than another’s by a few inches? There’s no single definition of beauty because each of us has our own idea about it. I might drool over Cindy Crawford but there is bound to be someone else who simply can’t bear to look at her snap. Simply put, the rod to measure external beauty is extremely fragile and utterly unconvincing!
Hey, you got it all wrong! A pageant is much more than just judging external beauty!
Oh, yeah? So what? It might be true that these contests not only test the beauty but also the “brains” of these ladies. Supporters might argue that the contestants are asked “intelligent questions” of which they have no idea before hand and the ones who give equally “intelligent replies” have an excellent mix of beauty and brains. Try explaining that to a class 10 kid. The Miss India World 2000 who went on to become “Miss World 2000” was asked as her final question as to whom she thought was the most admirable woman LIVING TODAY. Without even battling an eyelid or pausing for a second to understand the question, she went on to fluently deliver a pre-planned response - Mother Theresa! This glaring blunder did not stop the Honorable judges from declaring her the winner. Is this the kind of “intelligent brains” that we are talking of? If this particular lady could get away with such an unpardonable blunder, I strongly felt that our young maid-servant too had an excellent chance of being crowned the “Miss World” in the ensuing year. At least she has more common sense.
Final Word…
I have nothing personal against the beauty contest contestants or the cosmetic companies backing them. It just strikes me as being funny that these companies think that they can make a fool of the general “junta” and still get away with it scot free! I don’t intend to convince anyone that these contests are just a cosmetic farce and an affront to our sensibilities. I’m no one to do that. All I wanted to do was to voice my opinion on this topic…that was my two cents worth of contribution.