This year's Miss Universe is Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark. In the past years, I used to watch the competition alongside my graduate classmates while we were in different areas in the country. We would watch from where we were and make real-time comments through our message channels. It was fun as we tried to decipher the judges' choice. Unfortunately for the Philippines' candidate was not included in the top 12. The judges had someone else in mind to represent the “universe” based on their standards.
It is funny how pageants like these are such big things for Filipinos. Everyone becomes so engrossed with the journey of whoever the country is going to field for the international event. Apart from females, those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, are also looking out for the next woman who will sort of set the standard for beauty. However, we miss out on the most important question, is there really a standard for beauty?
The new Miss Universe Organization, now owned by a Thai, is trying to beef up the call of inclusivity in the competition. This is why there are contestants who are older for the usual age, those who are of color, and even transwomen. When the final list is called, these individuals who bring the cause of inclusivity to the stage rarely enter the top lists. To some, women who are part of the minority are accessories. The production portrays being inclusive on a surface level. At the end of the day, the organizers are trying to sell the whole pageant to a wider audience by banking on what the viewers want to see. This is the sad part about media products such as a competition like this.
Many young girls look up to pageant contestants like these in the hopes of trying to look like them in the future. What parents should instill today is that beauty is subjective and it is really not about how slender you are or how your facial features are very prominent. In fact, the saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" stands true even up to today. Our youth should stop pressuring themselves into looking like others, when they are beautiful just the way they are. They shouldn't feel any insecurities when they know that they are loved.
Theilvig is set to tour the different countries, to show her advocacy and to be an ambassador of goodwill. I only hope that whatever she sets does not become a precedent in the world of beauty. There should be more to just beauty and eloquent answers to a pageant. At some point, the organizers did include the bringing of their personal advocacies to the stage yet its legitimacy is also a point of question. By now we must think about pageants as a source of entertainment by objectifying its candidates or a platform to use for unheard causes. Either way, it must be used wisely, especially for the youth.