a Miss fit

I hate beauty pageants. Or, since 'hate' is such a strong word, let me say that I find the concept distasteful. I recently read in a local newspaper that a Pakistani woman will be taking part in one of the many international beauty pageants being hosted these days. What bothered me more was that the article was written by a woman, and according to her this shows that Pakistani women are now heading in the right direction. In another article, an unnamed author describes the participants of the Miss Pakistan pageant (to be held later this month in Toronto) to be strong, confident and enthusiastic women taking Pakistan forward to the 21st century. What a load of bull. Beauty pageants are demeaning to women and for them to approve of this only makes it even more disturbing. Pakistani women would be more strong and confident if they were not taking part in these ‘competitions’.

Yes… these people would like to salute our country’s new policy of ‘enlightened moderation’. From what I see, there isn’t much enlightenment involved, neither is there any moderation. There are only a bunch of women competing with each other over how they look while wearing minimal clothing. Yes, that sure would seem to be necessary for success in the 21st century.

There are so many of these pageants these days that it makes the whole thing even more absurd. First there’s a Miss Universe thing and then there’s also a Miss World pageant. Since there are only human participants, I don’t quite understand how the winner of a Miss World contest wouldn’t automatically become Miss Universe, or vice versa. And to make it more confusing, there’s also a Miss Earth contest. Great. I won't be too surprised if they come up with another one called 'Miss Galaxy', however corny that may sound.