We can credit PT Barnum for the first beauty pageant, held in 1854. You probably know him better as the man who invented the circus. Having already held pageants for dogs, babies and birds, parading women was next on his list. Women, unsurprisingly did not want to take part, and there were lots of public protests.
In 1920, women in the US were given the right to vote. But it was that same decade that saw the growth of beauty pageants, and the launch of the Miss America pageant in 1921. Then called the “Inter-city pageant”, the swimsuit competition took place as a draw for tourists in Atlantic City.
Next week will mark the 100th anniversary of the event. A century later, the world ought to put an end to these bizarre competitions. After all, if they didn’t already exist, would any compassionate person invent them today? I asked my six-year-old what she thought of lining women up and deciding who was the most beautiful. Her initial responses were “that’s weird” and “why would anyone do that?”. But she also correctly pointed out: “How would you decide anyway, because there are so many ways to be beautiful?”
With the needle being pushed forwards through voting, rights, pay, #MeToo, maternity rights, public safety, health and in so many other domains, why do pageants continue? The time to parade women on the stage and judge a winner based on a narrow beauty ideal, as a symbol of womanhood is now over. It’s time to say goodbye.
And this isn’t a wishful goodbye to a particular pageant. It is a clarion call to put an end to all of them.
Over the years, pageants like Miss America have tried to show that they are progressive, but mostly they are just shape shifting to justify their existence by pointing to apparently empowering initiatives. Scholarships have been introduced. Women of colour have occasionally won. Talent rounds have been introduced. And this year it is all about “wellness” and “empowerment”.
If they didn’t already exist, who would invent beauty pageants today?
These are all mere cosmetics over the essential DNA of competitions to judge women on their bodies, and by extension to remind women and society that ultimately what really matters about a woman is her physical appearance.
In a review of the history of pageants, it’s tempting to stitch together the mind-boggling answers that some candidates have given over the years. And I will admit, they make for a good laugh. But that would just underscore the notion that beauty means you can’t (or shouldn’t?) have brains.
The fact that more and more smart, accomplished women are being co-opted into such competitions isn’t a sign of pageants being progressive. It shows the opposite, that it doesn’t matter how successful you are, it’s your looks that count – the key that unlocks success. And of course, in doing so, it even more effectively props up our society’s architecture that a woman’s most important asset is her looks. It mocks women by saying that you can get an education, be financially independent, live life on your own terms. But your validation comes through looks, so don’t think you’re all that, till you’re validated. And perpetuating the same thing to other women.
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Sadly, girls internalise all of this from a very young age. And it haunts women forever, inflicting lifelong damage on mental health and self-esteem.
A survey in the UK in 2016 found that more than a third of seven-to-ten-year-old girls agreed that women were rated more on their appearance than their abilities, and 36 per cent said they were made to feel their looks were their most important attribute. More than two thirds of girls aged just seven to eleven felt like they are not good enough. According to a Common Sense Media report in 2015, more than half of girls aged six to eight thought their ideal weight was thinner than their actual size. By age seven, one in four children tried dieting.
Or to put it another way, no matter how accomplished, how socially advanced, how smart or talented, the key to unlocking everything remains looks. That is what girls are learning about the world. And beauty pageants are the most symbolic expression of this.
Even if everything else were valued at 99 per cent, the pageant reinforces that success, acceptance and celebration hinges on looks.
You might think it is an exaggeration; It’s just a small competition right? Wrong. It is not even just an instance of the problem – it’s a celebration of it!
So if we care about women’s body image and mental health, then the time to draw the curtain on such beauty pageants has come. It is time to stop pretending that judging a woman’s looks is a form of empowerment. It is time to stop perpetuating the fact that it doesn’t matter what a woman has accomplished its her looks that really count. But most of all, it is time to stop promoting beauty as a competition. Because there are no winners, only losers.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
Match info
Wolves 0
Arsenal 2 (Saka 43', Lacazette 85')
Man of the match: Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal)
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
5pm: Rated Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: AF Mouthirah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alajaj, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Hawafez, Connor Beasley, Abubakar Daud
6.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Tair, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner: Son Of Normandy, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
Jebel Ali results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 64,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: One Vision, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gabr, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
4pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 96,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
4.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Torno Subito, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Untold Secret, Jose Santiago, Salem bin Ghadayer
RESULTS
6.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82.500 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Meshakel, Royston Ffrench (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner Gervais, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (Turf) 2,410m
Winner Global Heat, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Firnas, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (D) 1,600m
Winner Rebel’s Romance, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m
Winner Topper Bill, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m
Winner Wasim, Mickael Barzalona, Ismail Mohammed.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
