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Miss World 2006: Beauty with a purpose or just a Barbie parade? Gemma Griffiths dons some heels to go undercover at the Miss World 2006 Beauty Pageant in Poland- and indulges in some guilty pleasures along the way.
As I walked up the red carpet into the Palace of Culture and Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, feeling the cameras flashing at me, it was difficult not to get caught up in the glamour of the occasion. I felt a nagging urge to turn, give a gentile smile and wave demurely at the crowd, playing a part that was not mine to play. I had left my scruffy trainers and jeans at home and after a week of anxiety at what I should wear to the world’s biggest beauty contest I made a mad dash to a second hand shop and had the fortune to find a stylish vintage 80s dress and (rather too pointy) shoes all for under AU$25. They seemed to convince the paparazzi though, who, I like to think, must have thought I was a mysterious, foreign movie star. It was a guilty pleasure The palace, to this day an imposing symbol of the might of Stalin, was the setting for the final of Miss World 2006, which is, according to the public relations team, “the longest-running and most prestigious festival to recognise the achievements of young women”. I wondered how being born with high cheekbones and a perfect nose was an achievement. For isn’t that what a beauty contest is all about? An hourglass body, a winning smile and immaculate hair? Is the Miss World contest detrimental and demeaning to women? Does it promote vanity and help to bring about body image obsession among young women? Or is it a harmless contest, no different to any other sporting or talent competition, but which has the added benefit of raising millions for good causes? After all, Hollywood, pop stars and fashion models are much more influential in modern culture when it comes to making young women feel bad about their bodies. Beauty pageants today play a relatively small part in the bombardment of images of the way we should look. And women have good reasons for wanting to enter beauty pageants – international travel, college scholarships, the chance to promote your cause, as well as celebrity. Well, it seems that times are changing. Beauty is now officially recognised as more than finely toned abs and teeth of which orthodontists can only dream. Back in 1951 when the contest started, a lot more importance was placed on looking good in a bikini, but over the years pressure has been put on the contest to alter its definition of beauty. In 1980 women were judged for the first time on personality and intelligence, as well as looks, and vital statistics were no longer stipulated. Today, although the Miss World Beach Beauty event is still alive and kicking, other mini-contests are now held: Miss World Sportswoman, Miss World Talent Show and Beauty With a Purpose. At the final we were treated to clips of the contestants performing in these categories – long jump and cycling competitions, displays of magic, ribbon twirling, singing, drama, traditional dancing. The Beauty With a Purpose aspect was set up in order to address widespread criticism of the pageant and to raise its plummeting profile. Today the Miss World Organisation boasts about having raised over US$400,000,000 for charity. Miss World, in the words of Julia Morely, is now “not only the most beautiful woman, but also one who can hold such an important job”. Miss World 2004, Maria Julia, describes the role of Miss World as “Raising money, bringing hope, uniting people, bringing care and medical expertise to those that need it and most of all, using the Miss World crown as a humanitarian symbol wherever it is needed in the world and whatever the challenge.” A worthy job indeed. So maybe the contest empowers women to correct social ills rather than merely placing them on a pedestal as the objects of men's fantasies.
The role of the judges, according to the official Miss World website is to find “someone who will be a role model for her generation and inspire others to make the best of themselves”. This is achieved through interviewing each candidate individually to choose the one who has “enough talent and personality to stand out from the rest”. Nowadays, when many of the contestants are medical or economics students, could the old "I love animals and children" cliché be dying out, revealing a new breed of Miss World - an independent, assertive, intelligent career woman? Miss Lebanon, a law student, has ambitions to become a judge (the legal kind, not the beauty pageant kind); Miss Brazil is a radio journalist; Miss Jamaica aspires to be a doctor. These truly are smart, strong, talented women, but when you see the contestants being herded around the stage like cattle it is difficult to view them as such. Instead you get a taste of what will become if they are fortunate enough to win the coveted title - a year of being a public relations tool for the Miss World Organisation, with little control over their own lives. If Miss World were a mere beauty contest, we could take it with a pinch of salt and dismiss it as silly or just a bit of fun. The problem lies in the fact that the contest purports to be more than just about good looks, more than a modelling competition. It pretends to be a “festival of women”, even though it only wishes to celebrate childless, single women who behave in a manner appropriate to the title. But at the end of the night the woman with the crown was not Miss Ghana who won the Beauty with a Purpose award for her charity work, nor was it Miss Northern Ireland who showed that she could carry a tune as Miss Talent, or Miss Canada who demonstrated sporting prowess on an exercise bike. The winner was Miss Czech Republic, an 18 year old blonde, amply bosomed model-wannabe from the country famed for its porn stars. We can only guess at the judges’ reasons. As Miss World 2006 performed her victory walk from one end of the stage and back again, I realised that, no matter how they are packaged or how much money is raised for good causes in the process, beauty contests will always be a superficial celebration of woman as a Barbie doll. |
