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Mad about beauty pageants

Composite photo of Filipino Miss Universe title holders. From top: Gloria, Margie Moran, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray.

 In 2016, I wrote an article and a feature story for Asia Calling about the hows and whys of the Philippines being a mad-crazed country over beauty contests. It seems that watching and (for some girls and boys and gays) joining a beauty pageant is part of the Filipinos' DNA.
Last Monday, 17 December, the Filipinos have once again proven that their lives evolve around beauty contests when everyone was glued on television and the Internet to watch the live broadcast from Bangkok. The streets were also empty and public employees stopped serving clients until the broadcast was over. These things happened before when boxer Manny Pacquaio fought. Later on, the interest in Pacquaio's matches has waned but not on beauty contests.

The bet, a 24-year-old Filipino-Australian Catriona Gray, didn't disappoint. She was crowned Miss Universe 2018 after being a runaway favorite from the very beginning. Her handlers and the team behind her had already perfected the art of packaging a winable beauty queen, when Pia Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German, won the same title in 2015 (after a long drought). Gray is now the fourth Filipina to become Miss Universe, the most coveted of all the international beauty contests (every year a new beauty contest is being imagined and launched, including ones that are called Reina Hispanoamericana and Miss United Continents). As of the last count (according to the friendly Wiki), there are four major international titles, 15 minor international pageants, 10 continental and regional pageants and almost every country has at least two pageants. In the Philippines, there are three major pageants--Bb. Pilipinas, Mutya ng Pilipinas and Miss Earth-Philippines--not to mention that every province, city, village and school has its own pageant. Television programs also have their own versions like Little Miss Philippines, Mr. Pogi (handsome), That's My, Boy, Super Sirena, and the list is dizzyingly endless.

The Miss Universe broadcast last Monday broke the Internet and according to a poll, the Philippines was the top country discussing and dishing every single detail of the pageant. Next is the US where it originated and the reason why the usually evening pageant was held very early morning in Bangkok, just to be able to accommodate US viewers watching conveniently in the evening.

What's the fuzz over beauty pageants? The social media have all a treasure trove of answers why the Filipinos waste a day of not working or not going to school just to watch a freakin' pageant. Only in the Philippines! Sociologists say that this obsession is a remnant of the Philippines' colonial past. Others argue that as a third world country, it is a form of escapism. Many women's rights activists maintain these reenforce glorification of women in a wrong way. Beauty contests only highlight the physical attributes and demean women. But pageant aficionados and rabid supporters would say, it is not easy for a young girl to be paraded like a Victoria's Secret model while being asked tough questions that would seal her faith in the top 3. They add, rather than bash the pageants, help make them more relevant, more up-to-date and make them a vehicle to truly make the world a better and a (peaceful place) and be a platform to raise awareness and concrete actions on issues like poverty, gender equality, marginalization, environmental protection, etc, etc, etc.

The obsession of Filipinos on beauty contests will not go away. This is just not how they're raised. below are some of the netizens comments on the Miss Universe pageant.













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