AZAPO CALLS FOR THE BANNING OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS
Jabu Rakwena
National Spokesperson of Azapo
In the aftermath of the Miss SA hopeful Chidimma Adetshina saga, AZAPO reiterates her call for the banning of beauty pageants.
Beauty pageants have long been a staple in many cultures, often seen as a celebration of beauty and talent.
Beneath the glitz and glamour, there is a darker side that we seriously need to scrutinize
and decide what value, if any, does such parades add.
Research has shown that these pageants can lead to harmful effects, particularly to young girls.
From body dissatisfaction to disordered eating, the pressure to conform to an often unattainable ideal of beauty can have serious impacts.
There is a great danger that these pageants teach our young people to concentrate far too much on the superficial in life. To consider how someone looks or materially presents themselves as of utmost importance as the main attractive attribute of a person, is entering extremely risky and harmful territory indeed. Participants of beauty pageants and an influenced audience could spend a disproportionate amount of time and money on tending to how they look, rather than how they are feeling inside.
It is crucial that we teach our children to place their energies on attending to, nurturing
and maintaining a healthy psyche.
Objectification and sexism: By judging women primarily on how they look, beauty pageants can be seen as objectifying and reinforcing problematic gender norms and expectations. This leads to objectification of women more broadly in society.
Unrealistic beauty standards: The look and physical typically favoured in pageants represents a very narrow and unrealistic standard of beauty that can be unhealthy and unattainable for many.
This can negatively impact self-esteem and body image, especially for younger participants and viewers.
Pageants have historically lacked diversity, with winners often coming from a limited range of backgrounds.
This can send a problematic message about whose beauty and identity is valued. There are also concerns that some pageants may exploit or take advantage of participants, especially younger women and girls, in pursuit of profits and publicity.
Participating in beauty pageants can be very expensive, requiring investments in clothing, make-up, coaching, and other preparation costs.
This financial burden can be significant and excludes those who cannot afford from participating.
AZAPO is convinced that beauty pageants do not add value to our society, and the advancement
of advocacy and charity goals can still happen without having to expose young women through such trauma and uncertainty of knowing what the expectations of the judges would be.
THE TRANSFORMATION ALLIANCE PRESIDENT ABEL TAU
I think beauty pageants are a good thing.
They are a celebration of femininity not in an inferior manner. They are a demonstration of the fact that women can lead themselves.
It takes a lot for anybody to be able to look after their body and showcase that God-given body out there in the world showing that we all need to stay healthy.
Therefore, they need to be celebrated as they represent what is best about us as people. The Chadima Adetshina situation is very unfortunate, and I believe that as South Africans we should not be bullied into submission.
We want to be represented by someone we can relate with; somebody who represents the spirit of us as a people whether it is a group of us, within us, or all of us.
That is what we want to have.
Unfortunately, from what we have seen, Chadima Adetshina had nothing that represented us as a collective or a group among us and for that reason I think it was unfortunate that she even took the initiative to enter the Miss SA pageant in the first place.
Being Miss South Africa you are representing us as a nation and you therefore need to embody some form of this Rainbow nation. She apparently or allegedly doesn’t speak any if our languages and she has never embraced any of our cultures.
We have also now learned that she has benefitted from a crime by virtue of her mother stealing the identity of a black South African child and the law must take its course.
Congratulations to the new Miss South Africa reigning queen Mia as she is South African through and through.
Anyone who wants to relegate whites to the status of Europeans doesn’t know who we are as a people.