The World’s Most Progressive Beauty Pageants
Move over, traditional beauty contests. (Photo: MPTV Images)
Beauty pageants have come a long way, baby.
Just for starters, Israel is hosting its first transgender beauty competition, Miss Trans Israel 2016, on May 27 in Tel Aviv, which has become one of the world’s most gay-friendly travel destinations. Organizer Israela Stephanie Lev was inspired to create the contest after hearing about the 2012 Miss Universe Canada controversy in which contender Jenna Talackova was initially removed from the competition when she was found to be transgender. That led to an official rules change, which allowed Miss Universe contestants not biologically born female the chance to participate.
“When I read about the change in rules, my eyes lit up,” Lev told Haaretz. “This breakthrough shook me up. I thought to myself — OK, we have an option here for transgender women to compete for the Miss Universe title, so why can’t it happen here?”
Lev told Haaretz that she hopes the Miss Trans Israel contest becomes a permanent feature. “We would like it to be a normal event, appealing to everyone,” she said.
Israel’s new transgender beauty competition joins several others like it, including Miss International Queen, which has been held in Thailand since 2004, and Miss Trans Star International in Barcelona, Spain, and Miss Trans Europe in Naples, Italy.
Contestants in the Miss Trans Israel 2016 transgender beauty pageant. (Photo: AP)
But transgender beauty pageants aren’t the only competitions making strides. In 2015, Miss Iraq was crowned for the first time since 1972, boosting morale in the country. “I’m very happy to see Iraq going forward,” the newly crowned beauty queen Shaymaa Abdelrahman, a 20-year-old from Iraq’s multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, said after the pageant. “This event was huge and put a smile on the faces of the Iraqis.”
The crowned winner of the 2015 Miss Iraq beauty competition, Shaymaa Abdelrahman. (Photo: AP)
Added veteran human rights activist Hana Edwar: “I think it is wonderful; it makes you feel things can come back to normal.”
There are also now fashion shows for more conservative cultures that care about style but want to reveal less, rather than more, skin. Just last week, Turkey hosted International Modest Fashion Week — a two-day event that focuses on conservative wear, a growing market for Muslim women.
“[We want] to create mainstream fashion out of modest fashion and to energize Islamic communities to produce [clothing] for Muslim women,” Modanisa chief executive officer Kerim Ture said. “They want to have their rules but they also want to look chic.”
A model walks the runway in during International Modest Fashion Week in Turkey. (Photo: AP)
Not everyone is a fan of the covered-up looks on the catwalk, of course. “In a society that said public space is neutral, religiously neutral, you now have conservative fashion week,” said Mary Lou O’Neil, director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Research Center at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. “(It’s) a visually stunning development for a lot of people, and it certainly bothers a lot of people.”
Here in the U.S., the Miss Amazing Pageant, launched in 2007 by founder and CEO Jordan Somer, is focused on building self-esteem, social skills, and confidence for disabled girls and women. The contest, which takes place in 30 states, has an evening wear competition and a talent showcase, but unlike other pageants, the entry free is only five cans of food, which are then donated to charity. “I would like to redefine the word ‘beauty,’” Miss Amazing Chief Operating Officer Ellie Lorenzen says on a video on the pageant’s website. “So much with celebrities and Hollywood beauty is just a materialist thing, but beauty really comes from within. … It’s not just outward appearance. It’s confidence. It’s your heart. It’s your soul that really makes you beautiful.”
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