Beauty pageants first began in the 20’s as a strategy to attract more tourists. From those humble beginnings, it has grown to become a multimillion dollar industry. In India it did not become popular until the last ten years or so. When Zeenat Aman won the title of Miss Asia-Pacific in the 70’s, no one paid attention(or so I’m told). However after Miss India started winning the Miss World title three or four years in succession, it became acceptable for normal, middle class Indian girls to compete. Beauty pageants raise several questions. What defines beauty? Are beauty pageants supposed to measure both outward and inward beauty? And is beauty that important anyway?
My philosophy is, live and let live. I’m not going to be in a pageant, but I’m not going to try to ban them either. Beauty pageants are only a reflection of a rather ugly part of ourselves(no pun intended). The part that only looks at the outside. According to a study done by USA TODAY, beautiful people are more likely to get help when their car broke down. They are also more likely to get a promotion, earn more, and are perceived as friendlier. Scientists found that even babies(we’re talking less than a month old) are more likely to respond to pictures of good-looking women than they are to respond to pictures of ordinary-looking women. Suppose beauty pageants really were banned. There’s still going to be that infamous Indian aunty who readjusts her glasses, looks you over, and says in front of thirty thousand other people including the boy you like, ’You’re too skinny/plump/tall/short/whatever, beta’. horror of horrors. Try explaining inner beauty to her. My point is, this is a part of human nature. Beauty pageants are only a symptom.
Some people have decried pageants for bringing Western culture into India. However if you think about it beauty pageants are only a natural extension of Bollywood culture. A culture that only has young beautiful people as its protagonists and main characters. Forget the main characters, even the mothers of the main characters nowadays have on heavy eye makeup, wrinkle-free skin, and(at least semi-)trendy clothes. Bollywood is a natural receptacle for former Indian Miss Universe’s(although I have to wonder.would they have won the Miss Universe crown if they told the judges their plans of being B-grade actresses?) So I think it’s hypocritical to condemn pageants without condemning Bollywood too. And I see no reason to ban pageants because they are’demeaning’ to women. The women who participate in the pageant do so because of their own free will. If contestants want to be in it, it’s their own life.
At the same time I don’t think pageants should be given undue importance. I completely agree with the State Minister(don’t remember his name) who refused to spend government money on a party to welcome Miss Universe back to India. It ridiculous-no, its downright idiotic-to say that contestants represented India’well’, or that they helped audiences to see that India is not’just’ a bunch of poor people. First of all poverty isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Being poor doesn’t make anyone inferior. And in any case I think Indira Gandhi and Kiran Bedi would represent India better than a whole truckload of Bollywood wannabes. Hardly anyone is going to remember Aishwarya Rai 50 years after she is dead. But I am sure people will remember Gandhi-a very old, ugly, bald, wrinkly man-long after India or England has ceased to exist. If you don’t believe me, how many of you remember Leela Chitnivis, Zubeidaa, Theda Bera or Rudolph Valentino? How many of you remember Ramakrishna? See?
Now on to the last question. Do beauty pageants measure inner beauty or outer beauty? Obviously most of the time it is outer beauty. But a lot of it depends on the judges too. At a lot of Miss America contests I’ve seen, the winner isn’t as pretty as the semifinalists who were rejected. The most recent example of this, as another reviewer pointed out, would be Miss Hawaii, who became last year’s Miss America. She was not good looking at all. But she won.(This might be the reason why Miss America never wins the Miss Universe contest. But I prefer to think it was narrow minded jealousy of America’s superpower status, LOL.)
The judging at the Miss Universe contest, on the other hand, is based somewhat on outer beauty. Which actually makes more sense and is less hypocritical. But mostly it’s based on whoever happens to be the judges’ favorite country at that time. For five years in a row it was Venezuela, then it was India for several consecutive years. Now they have abandoned India and moved on to some Central American country. Does that mean that Indian and Venezuelan women were gorgeous for a few years before suddenly becoming ugly? Of course not!I think they plan to go through every country eventually, just to keep everyone happy. I think that is ridiculous.
In the end, it is best to recognize beauty pageants for what they are-ridiculous. Pieces of worthless fluff. They can be entertaining but they really aren’t that important. They just aren’t worth all the controversy they generate. Controversy should be reserved for important things like wars in Iraq and presidents who start them(and their lack of intelligence thereof. No names, right?). I will leave you with a quote from Rumi:’Your deeds alone are faithful: make them your refuge,
for they alone will accompany you into the depths of the tomb.’As always comments are welcome.