As Miss Venezuela was crowned the competition's 61st winner last night, feminists chanted outside the exhibition hall, carrying placards with slogans such as "objectification won't achieve world peace".
Sabrina Qureshi, the founder of Million Women Rise, said that, far from harmless fun, beauty pageants were a sign of a society that trivialises women in a way that leads to violence such as the murder of Joanna Yeates. "We have read that the murderer of Joanna Yeates was using pornography which contained images very similar to how he murdered Joanna," said Ms Qureshi.
"To stop such heinous crimes against women and girls, we need to stop trivialising what may appear to be harmless practices and start joining up the dots of women's treatment, representation and discrimination."
Protesters from the London Feminist Network, Object and UK Feminista clearly did not heed the plea of a former Miss World, who last week urged feminists to abandon their planned demonstration.
Laura Coleman, a former Miss England, asked protesters not to attend the event, arguing that pageants "empower" women.
"Appreciating beauty should not cause anger," she said,
"Women enter beauty pageants at their own will, they are not forced into it. I don't understand why feminists think it is degrading, as pageants are actually empowering women.
"Ask any of the contestants.Pageants give the girls confidence and give them opportunities they may not otherwise have had and I can speak from experience."
Miss World began in 1951 during the Festival of Britain. Angie Beasley, the director of Miss England, insisted that the contest "had changed with the times".
"Yes they have to look great to win but it's so much more than a beauty contest. These people should give it a chance instead of thinking it's just a bikini parade.
"I'm all for women standing up for what they believe in, which is why I run Miss England, but I'm fed up of these protesters trying to bully us and push us around. We live in a free society where women have the right to choose. The contestants in Miss World are quite capable of making up their own minds if they want to enter or not and protesters shouldn't keep criticising the same decision. If you don't like it, don't watch it."
Ivian Sarcos, a 21 year-old from Venezuela, was crowned last night at a ceremony that featured entertainment from the street dance group Diversity.
The winner will spend a year visiting and supporting a range of global charity projects supported by Miss World's Beauty With A Purpose programme.
No comments:
Post a Comment