FlippED is An ED Original Style wherein two bloggers come together to share their opposing or orthogonal perspectives on an interesting subject.
So, India won the coveted Miss World title after a long wait of 17 years. And of course, everyone was happy, which showed in the number of congratulatory messages revolving around social media.
However, amidst all that, Sofia Hayat’s (famously infamous Ex-Bigg Boss contestant) comment on beauty pageants where she lashed out on these contests as being archaic and judgmental also blew the internet right away.
But is she right in saying so, should we really do away with beauty pageants? Our bloggers fight it out.
“Can we really judge beauty? Beauty isn’t a skill that can be tested. Especially because we cannot define beauty and if you can’t define something, how will you judge it?”
~ Riddhi Tyagi
These beauty contests are indeed archaic. I mean Sofia Hayat (though strange) does make a point there, especially when she herself comes from the glamour industry.
The problem with these beauty pageants is that they are looking for the same typical type of beauty. The method and format is all set. There will be a running parade of women in dreamily beautiful dresses. There will be a test of your skill, yeah but you can’t say that my skill is carpentry and I can make a really amazing article right here. So please waltz around if you really want to win it.
Oh and yes there is a question-answer round (so we are not just judging beautiful but really, really smart people? Eh?), which ultimately decides who should win the title because they are well-founded questions, asked to whom, by the way? The prettiest of the lot, all standing tall, having “to-die” for figures and the ones who have put a hell lot of energy into carrying themselves with higher than my dreams heels?
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So you are telling and spreading this message around the world, that ‘these’ are the kind of girls who are beautiful?
For those who talk about beauty with a purpose, let me tell you something.
Back in school, we were told to bring saplings and plant them. Along with many other students, I used to bring them and plant them too. Now, that is not something I did willingly, I was told to do it. I imbibed many values through such social activities, but I wasn’t rewarded for it.
Why? Because you can’t be rewarded for ‘getting sensitized’. Beauty pageants are a great way to sensitize people though but wait, you did it because you wanted the title right? Not because you did it willingly or you are a social activist or something. So, should you be rewarded for that?
Then what does the point of these pageants remain? Well, nothing.
“Beauty pageants aren’t great. But they ain’t that bad too. And banning something never works out, like never. Let me tell you why.”
~Tanmay Mehra
When you ban something out of the blue, you create a counter movement to your movement. A reaction to your action, which further seeks to discredit your move, hence taking away its validity. Just look at any ban in the recent past, the porn ban, beef ban etc.
Further, personally, I don’t feel that beauty pageants are as demonic as they are portrayed to be. They are not these factories that push out the ideal female body while sucking out their brains and inserting plastic. On the contrary, they celebrate beauty, a very narrow sliver of it, but beauty nonetheless.
Because if your definition of beauty, (which may not be a fair skin, full lips etc) deserves validation, so does theirs. And beauty pageants are just a means to do that. By banning them, you are effectively imposing something on the people, which as far as I know is undemocratic and has no place in today’s world.
You might say that these competitions force women to adopt unreal body standards and models that become role models preach a very destructive message.
Ok.
But banning is not the right way, awareness is. You have to give an alternate path, no path is not an option. Even in the beauty pageants that take place today, the focus on brains is becoming paramount, with rounds designed to specifically test that.
I’ll end my take with this, everyone might not have a fair skin, a slim waist, or full lips. Not everyone needs to have those, but it is not up to us to stop those who want to have such things and glorify them.
Image Credits: Google Images
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