By Tinky Ningombam
I do not like the word BAN. It is negative. It is dictatorial. Especially in the case when someone has not illegally done anything.
I am startled by the recent ban on “beauty contests”, more so, because I pre-empt it sometime back. We are not new to “bans”: bans on dresses, on make-up, on dating, on marriage. I am more concerned on the publicity spin that has been construed. That the beauty contests have been banned because the women were wearing certain clothes in their photo shoot. In that case shouldn’t the organizers who dictated the screening process be the one to blame rather than the young girls who just wanted to win a beauty contest to get some limelight?
I have always borne an incorrigible hatred for beauty pageants. I think it is degrading for women, it distorts “beauty”, it has enormous influence on young girls while in reality it objectifies women. There is oftentimes much pressure from these pageants to conform to a certain mindset of “beauty”. I admit everyone I knew was very much intimidated with size zero beauties at some point of time. Most of this pressure comes from the inherent need for young girls to follow the “popular” notion of what “beauty” is and here, in this context, it is the collective effort of beauty pageants to search for the perfect 10 figure. The perfect epitome of beauty. Your make-up clad tiara wearing female flashing her best smile.
Behind that winning smile is the cost that one spends on stylists, grooming, fashion, cosmetics, hair styling and even cosmetic surgery. So when only 5 ft 6” girls with clear skin, flowing hair and pretty smiles are beautiful, it leaves a certain vitriolic envy towards these pretty girls from the ones who are not 5ft 6” with clear skin and flowy hair with pretty smiles. But of course, with society’s acceptance of their brand of “beauty,” they get more popularity, better job prospects, better contracts, better admirers, better husbands, better lives.
Across time and place, human feats and prowess have been tested to “win” or “gain” something. Either it was the hunt of a chieftain or a suitable bride for a groom or just to demonstrate the most prized attribute of the person. In our present day world, pageants have taken that tradition and given the winners certain prizes as token. So it can be monetary, a title, a label for modeling, a film contract etc. For some, this is a platform to achieve some recognition for oneself. I might know that I need not be pretty to land myself in a better job, but what about those people who have been fed with notions of beauty, who believe that “beauty” is their best trait? Most girls participate because they believe like all other women everywhere, beautiful or ugly, that beauty is one of the best accomplishment and trait of a woman. This is, however bad it may seem, accepted by a large population of the world and mostly women.
If we are trying to fight against the distortions of “beauty” then, we need to change the mindset of people who judge others by appearance. Give me one person in our society who has never judged anyone by his/her appearance? One person who has not wished that she was not prettier than the rest of the girls, one guy who has not asked for a pretty wife? And giving it a valid platform of a contest/pageant is just endorsing that stereotype.
The criteria that made a little sense to me is that because most of these “entertainment pieces” in the form of the pageants have taken the limelight from the actual cultural festivals and indigenous celebrations. It becomes a stark case of a PR disaster. Spending lacs on arranging a festival to promote indigenous art and handloom but getting all the publicity and word-of-mouth for a bunch of people coming on stage dressed in their best outfits and judged by people on a very vague thing as “beauty”. I wonder who nominates the judges on the first place and how can they judge someone on something so subjective?
The sad part is we do that every day. Wouldn’t it have been better to first educate people and tell them that this is something bad? Wouldn’t it make more sense if young people have been taught how detrimental a beauty pageant is instead of a surprise “BAN” one fine morning, shattering almost every one of those participants’ short-lived dreams to showcase something that they are good at? Could the ban not have come earlier before the organizers spent money on it ? Now it is projected as a reactive afterthought after we saw the scantily clad pictures and hence the need to stop it now. The drama of it all is inescapable though. The headline just stole the show: “Miss Manipur” banned! But now sadly now I do not know who the bad guy is here?
Endorsing something that feeds on a wrong stereotype is always a bad thing. But the question is not to stop someone from thinking something but of enabling someone to know of the good and the bad, and then letting them to make an informed choice. A little dialogue would have helped! An information drive? An awareness campaign? A talk ? A public debate ? There is a big difference between a popular reform and a forced one.
(The columnist would like to urge young girls not to have wrong notions of beauty. Everyone is beautiful. It does not require a contest to judge whether or not you are.)