Where is the Journalist Integrity for Pageants?
It’s extremely challenging to look for unbiased news nowadays, with most funding coming from sponsors that have certain agendas. But why is it okay for reputable news outlets to speak so poorly about pageants? Quite honestly, it feels like their own personal take on feminine women. And yes, I am taking it personally as a pageant girl, but if I were a journalist, I would just focus on stating the pageant facts, history, ratings, other people’s opinions. Some of these quotes are ridiculous.
Wall Street Journal’s podcast The Journal interview with Anne, the CEO of Miss Universe
So there’s one aspect I can agree with the journalist Kate Linebaugh – which is redefining what the beauty standards are. Especially as a Chinese American, I felt like I didn’t fit along my peers until I got older and I saw other women who looked like me in the media, and on top of that, I started working as a model. I think a great example is Sports Illustrated Swimsuit – showing all kinds of bodies as forms of beauty.
But then when the journalist asks why beauty is part of the global empowerment platform, it’s as if what she said earlier about redefining beauty standards was taken back, and we should not include beauty in pageants at all. In going against the traditional ideas of beauty pageants and removing beauty all together, it would probably be a women’s empowerment conference instead. And those are great too! But I must disagree with her statement, because feeling beautiful is one of the most empowering things you can do as a woman.
New York Times Piece on Miss Universe
To the journalist who wrote this piece – what makes you believe with utmost certainty a contestant’s purpose in Miss Universe is to be “sexy eye candy.” This is New York Times – not some creepy guy’s Instagram comment. The majority of people who watch pageants are not straight men. Let’s be realistic for a moment: straight men look for “sexy eye candy” on media platforms specifically catered to them, like Playboy or Total Frat Move (I won’t say the other channels we’re thinking because I’d rather keep my content more wholesome). Seriously, why do you discredit the accomplishments and incredible stories these contestants have to bring and inspire the world? The most troubling objections in this article were your issues with the Miss Universe pageant as a whole. I would love to see an article you’ve written about the Superbowl, how it brings men down by causing them to have concussions, by football players being “sexy eye candy” to sell sports drinks and other products, and how the football game is distracting from bigger issues going on in the world today. And if that sounds ridiculous, I agree! Why are we okay as a society to put down one of the few industries owned, operated, and viewed by women and some gay men?
Vogue India on Miss Universe when Miss India won
Pageants can be relevant if we do not have journalists providing opinionated misinformation. In its early years, pageants could have been watched by straight men. But in my 20 years of competing in pageants, no straight man is actually interested in watching a pageant because they are long, and not that exciting if you do not take the time to learn about each contestant. You can ask my exes, none of them would choose to go to a pageant unless they were dating a pageant girl and had to cheer her on. I wish these journalists actually went to the pageants they talk about to really see the audience, which is going to be a large fan base of Filipino, Thai, and Venezuelan fans cheering on their queens, along with family and friends of each contestant.
