Beauty pageants have been around, in various guises, for a long, long time. Historians trace them back at least as far as those ancient May Day events, still held in parts of Europe, to celebrate the first day of summer.
If we are to believe Wikipedia, the earliest known May celebrations were part of the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, when crowds were pelted with vetches, beans and lupins. Yes, even vetches. And still today, in merry old England, a May Queen is crowned — as "a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolise purity and usually a tiara or crown."
This is a seriously old tradition: the All London Festival has crowned a May Queen for more than 100 years.
The beauty pageant that is currently at the centre of SA’s attention is the grandiosely titled Miss Universe (founded in 1952), which is due to take place in Israel on December 12. With Miss World (1951), Miss International (1960) and Miss Earth (2001), it’s one of the "big four" beauty pageants.
The controversy is centred on Miss SA 2021, Lalela Mswane, who is insisting — or at least the Miss SA organisation is insisting — on taking part in the event. This is despite the SA government withdrawing its support, and calls to boycott what the ANC is calling "the upcoming apartheid Israel-hosted Miss Universe".
"The racism, human rights violations, illegal settlements, ongoing unlawful occupation and the apartheid laws of Israel are well documented and should be compelling enough for your withdrawal," party spokesperson Pule Mabe said.
"We painfully remember when black South Africans were not allowed to participate in competitions, including under the Miss SA title, but rather had to participate in Miss World pageants under the title ‘Miss Africa South’. This horrible history of racism of the Miss SA ‘trademark’ makes the boycott of this Miss Universe even more important and necessary."
Why all this fuss over a beauty pageant, some are asking. Especially when the fuss comes from Nathi Mthethwa, a minister of arts & culture who has been entirely ineffectual at looking after the struggling artists, performers and others who have the misfortune of falling under his portfolio. Not to mention his department’s appalling mismanagement of the R300m presidential employment stimulus programme. And from a government that appears happy to condone all sorts of human rights violations from a host of countries — including some in its own neighbourhood.
The answer, simply put, is that we should be able to care about more than one thing at a time.
The question isn’t why the government is wasting energy on a beauty pageant. The question is why the government isn’t using the same energy to address all the other issues bedevilling us. And the answer, alas, is probably going to be something along the lines of "low-hanging fruit".
Still, the original question is legitimate: why do we care about a beauty pageant in Israel?
Defending Mswane’s refusal to take a position on Palestine because ‘she’s just a beauty queen’ is untenable. Whatever their motivation, beauty pageant organisers have included brains as a subset of beauty
The oldest pageant still in operation today is the Miss America pageant. It was first organised by a local businessman in 1921 as a means to entice tourists to New Jersey’s Atlantic City. Much like international sports events, beauty pageants have almost always been marketing devices for products, countries, or (hello, Miss Universe 2021 in Israel) suspect ideologies.
Unfortunately, thanks to some "creative" refereeing in our recent match with Ghana, South Africans won’t get to see if our government takes the same principled stand against Bafana Bafana competing in the Qatar World Cup in 2022. (To emphasise: this is not to suggest we shouldn’t be taking a stand against human rights violations in Israel; it’s to ask for more of the same.)
Beauty pageants have, of course, been heavily criticised over the years. Many people view them as misogynistic, anachronistic and debasing.
One of the funniest movies about pageantry (after 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine, of course) is Miss Congeniality (2000). Its predictable story line is as asinine as its one-liners are astringent.
One of the characters embodies a popular perception of beauty pageant contestants as being unintellectual and vacuous. When asked, "Miss Rhode Island, please describe your idea of a perfect date", she replies: "That’s a tough one. I’d have to say April 25. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket."
The chief protagonist of Miss Congeniality (undercover FBI agent Gracie Hart, entered as a pageant contestant to foil terrorist stuff, if you must know) mocks one of the contestants: "Look, she’s gonna cry again. ‘Oh, if I only had a brain.’"
One of the arguments being bandied about at present is that we are asking too much of Mswane, our reigning Miss SA. It is, apparently, "just a beauty contest".
Pageant organisers over the years have tried hard to change the perception of beauty contestants, and there’s a body of literature about how criticism of pageants can sometimes be more sexist than the pageants themselves.
The tricky bit is that they’re still called "beauty" pageants, so those invested in them have pulled the classic rhetorical trick of attempting to redefine what beauty means.
Seventy years ago Eric Morley staged a swimsuit contest at the Festival of Britain to sell the recently invented bikini. The event was so popular, journalists gave it the name Miss World. Eventually, there was significant pushback to the swimsuit part of the competition, including from the pope, and the pageant added tests of intelligence and personality in the 1980s.
In Miss Congeniality, FBI agent Hart/Miss New Jersey articulates her experience of this rebranding. She is asked by the host: "New Jersey, as you may know, there are many who consider the … pageant to be outdated and antifeminist. What would you say to them?"
She answers: "Well, I would say I used to be one of them. And then I came here and I realised that these women are smart, terrific people who are just trying to make a difference in the world."
Mswane has an LLB from the University of Pretoria — a far cry from the caricature of the beauty queen. So defending her refusal to take a position on Palestine because "she’s just a beauty queen" is an untenable position to hold. Whatever their motivation, beauty pageant organisers have included brains as a subset of beauty.
It’s a redefinition that they’ll now have to live with. It has consequences, in much the same way that the ongoing redefinition of apartheid does, moving from a purely SA instance to a more general catchall for, in this case, Israel’s "racism, human rights violations, illegal settlements, ongoing unlawful occupation and apartheid laws".
In both cases, we can demand new levels of accountability from beauty pageant contestants as well as governments.
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