Miss Universe? More like Miss Objectified Stereotype

Dan says:

03:11pm | 24/08/09

“Silly and demeaning?” Then don’t watch it. I personally don’t watch it myself, but I wouldn’t then write an article attacking it. It is what it is, and nobody’s forcing you to watch it.

Tracey Spicer says:

03:36pm | 24/08/09

Paul, thank you for reading my mind! It’s so great when comments like this come from a bloke, ‘cos you can’t be accused of being a femi-nazi…

simon says:

03:38pm | 24/08/09

“you’d be hard pressed to find anyone with a bad word to say about Hawko. She’s gorgeous, blah, blah, blah…..”
Without the gorgeous bit she wouldn’t have the converted position she now enjoys. No matter the other qualities.
When can we get past this silly self-imposed, intellectually fraudulent position of pretending to be above base sexual attraction.
Sex sells, and these girls are advertising their selling potential. Good on em.
I hope they all get as good a deal as Hawko, becasue we are all down to earth, hard working, and graceful. But some grabbed a tripple helping of gorgeous too.

jonathan says:

03:50pm | 24/08/09

If you’re holding up Jennifer Hawkins as a positive outcome of miss universe, then stop right there.
When she appears on the telly, my eyes glaze over, my brain switches off and I slowly slide off my chair to the floor.  I keep getting told how amazing she looks, but I all I see is a skinny blonde with a vacuous smile and stoner eyes.  I’m sure she’s hardworking and charismatic and blablabla.  But that doesn’t come across on whatever show/product she happens to be selling at the moment.
As for the miss universe thing: I know nothing about it and choose to keep it that way. 
Another waste of an article, Colgo.  Ta.

Stone Rhino says:

04:02pm | 24/08/09

Paul you must be one of these blokes that doesn’t know which way is up. You can applaud the cause – feminism! Which I might add is and always will be a pie in the sky – unless there can first be equality among the males of the species, how can equality between the male and female genders be attained?

You claim you “….have no issue with the girls who enter.” However you call the event “…silly and demeaning”. If I get in to a vehicle that is being driven by a person that is intoxicated, does that make me a very smart person? After all, I chose to enter that “event” and I should have known that it was silly and demeaning before hand, right…

The fact of the matter is, everyone has to start somewhere and yes often it is considered silly and demeaning but only by those that sit in their ivory tower and look at the little peasants scurry around in their meaningless and ignorant existence!

Marty says:

04:04pm | 24/08/09

Isn’t this just another one of Donald Trump’s self promoting businesses?
The girls are getting so engineered it’s getting hard to tell them from a Real Doll - suppose that is the aim in the end.

Cuppa says:

04:11pm | 24/08/09

Sorry, but i find jennifer Hawkins fake & self centred.Personally i would be happy to never see her anywhere again.As for the pageant, it does represent a certain stereotype, but what else could you expect?

Craig says:

04:28pm | 24/08/09

How can you have “no issue with the girls who enter” but be opposed to the way the entire competition “represents the worst of the many ways in which beautiful women are regarded”? I’ve heard Miss Universe acceptance speeches that make more sense than this.

Ben says:

05:01pm | 24/08/09

The women in these events demean themselves, Donald Trump demeans himself, and everyone else involved knows very well that dignity is to be checked at the door.
Of course, that would eat at the soul of most people, but they take a cosmic antacid called “Cash money”.
So, what you have is a bunch of people with free will parading themselves for cash. It’s not a feminist issue, or a race issue, and no one is looking at “Miss Ecuador” to find out what the REAL women of Ecuador look like.
It’s a “If you don’t like it, no one’s forcing it on you” issue. Get on with your own life, and let Donald Trump and his many vapid & mentally retarded followers get on with theirs.
PS. If women have a problem with these pageants, they need to get angry at their fellow women. Or get over it - Pretty girls don’t follow you to university and slap the books out of your hand.

G says:

05:16pm | 24/08/09

Paul, come on, really…  your stereotyping these women, and thats the real problem not the competition.

Maybe you would think its o.k. if it was the ‘Plus Size’ miss universe, but I don’t.

There’s nothing wrong with valuing external beauty, or intellectual prowess and achievements.  All of these things are given to us in the genetic lottery.

By the way I’m sick of being made to feel guilty about not liking to look at ugly people…

AJ says:

06:21pm | 24/08/09

The “if you don’t like it, switch it off” has got to be the worst argument in regards to issues concerning women. It’s not that the pageant is demeaning *only* to the women who participate, its very existence as a popular culture norm is demeaning to *all* women.

We can agree that this is an event which requires the objectification of female bodies for the sake of competition. Paul summarised the danger of this with: “beautiful women are regarded as at their best when all standing in a row, smiling, in bikinis.”

If the very best of women is this, to the point where millions of dollars get loaded into finding and awarding the woman who is the “best” in this way, then how does that reflect on all other women? It isn’t about the dichotomy of beauty versus ugly, it’s objectification - reducing a human being to physical traits alone, and that is negative to all women.

Paul, this is where I disagree with you on Hawkins - if her success came through being discovered by Miss Universe and not because of her hard working ethic, etc. etc., then she (and our love for her) is still far and away part of the societal requirements on women to be beautiful above all other achievements.

Jack from Perth says:

06:57pm | 24/08/09

The whole thing’s a sham. I should have won it

Squid says:

08:13pm | 24/08/09

I would have voted for you Jack!

Too true Marty - many of them appear to more accurately represent the best that medical science can offer rather than their actual country of origin.  Its boring when they all look the same except for hair color.  Same breasts, same hair extensions, same contact lenses, same lipo, same tan….snooze.

Sadhbh says:

10:20pm | 24/08/09

Tracey, embrace the femi-nazi tag. Being called it means you are automatically smarter than the person using it.
G, you can be as pretty as you like, but by hell if you paint yourself orange and dress up as a giant bowl of fruit with a fecking haystack on top, you can’t blame people for laughing their arses off at you.
What I want to see is some sort of Big Brother take on Miss Universe: 20 girls, 1 month, no waxing, botoxing or hairdressers, 5 minutes of hot water a day, grand prize of a few hundred and a dinner date with Daniel Craig. That’ll sort the Miss Really Beautifuls from the Miss High Maintenance’s pretty fast.

Punchy says:

12:41am | 25/08/09

Until 20 guys get judged standing in a straight line whilst wearing their budgie smugglers, then yes, Miss Universe is a Donald Trump celebration of rubbish.

Good looks are not something you can earn. It’s luck. Why then, are people so accepting of the double standard, of the ‘sex sells’ mantra? They can’t be bothered reconsidering the fact that women (and it’s always women) are being judged on something they are born or not born with, something not really in anyone’s control?

I love looking at beautiful women. I have an appreciation for Miss Venezuela. She’s gorgeous. But there’s no equality between the genders in terms of what is considered a valuable quality and what is not. Hint: If you’re born with it, great. But it shouldn’t determine your life course or your value as a person.

Robert says:

09:05am | 25/08/09

Am I the only one who noticed the ultimate stereotyping of which Trump and his appointed judges are guilty: of the final 10, not one was Asian. As usual, bronzed but white Anglo-Saxon winner reflecting Trump’s view of how the most beautiful woman in the world should look. I agree: sham!

Charles says:

10:58am | 25/08/09

Why does anyone take this seriously?  As Marty says, this is a Donald Trump enterprise - how can it be considered a ‘real’ or ‘valid’ event for anything else than to objectify, ogle at and other promote archaic male values of the world.

It is an anachronism (like Donald’s flip-over hairstyle) and any intelligent person wouldn’t even spend time thinking about it.  So why am I writing this? Because, I admit, I am male and given sometimes to ogling at woman.

Beauty Queen says:

12:47pm | 25/08/09

Having personally been involved in the pageant industry, I can tell you it is so much more than what meets the eye. Believe it or not but there is actually an entire month of events prior to the final pageant. The girls get to experience so much more than they ever would have imagined. I feel that being involved in pageants has brought me so many opportunities which have led me to develop professionally and personally. Sure, it may all come down to a two hour event with girls standing around in swim suits but there is a lot more judging in the lead up. The girls are constantly watched and they go through rigorous interview judging. Bag it if you like, but let me tell you, it is an awesome opportunity and you’re probably just jealous!!

stephen says:

01:21pm | 25/08/09

Yeah, there is something special about Jen’. I remember in about ‘04, when on the catwalk she stood on her dress, and off it came. Her reaction was just like the kid next door : no pretension, just like an Aussie gal.
I reckon she’s too pretty for the movies ; she can stay here, an’ I’ll keep hitt’n that department store ‘long as she can walk.

Sar says:

02:46pm | 25/08/09

Sadly Jen has changed since 04. I spy with my little eye something beginning with… ‘A’...i.e A completely different face. Where did her nose go, and who has been pumping up her lips, cheekbones and freezing her forehead in this ridiculous fashion?

Jen was more gorgeous as a natural young woman but now just looks like ‘all the others’. Like she needed improvement!

stephen says:

04:49pm | 25/08/09

... Yeah, well my old man’s got a ‘69 Studebaker he’s just done up, an’ i’d drive her anyday mate.

rr says:

02:30pm | 26/08/09

i just found it crazy that they showed this pagent straight after ‘beyond the badlands’ which happened to be about that gang that enjoyed demeaning, assaulting and terrifying women

florencia says:

05:02pm | 31/08/09

I totally agree with simon and jonathan! Jennifer hawkins has no talent what so ever and if she hadn’t won the competition in 2004, she would still be a cheerleader today. Lets not confuse beauty with talent! Oh, and ps: has anyone seen pics of her before all the plastic surgery and the extreme makeover? Not so beautiful, I think.