Beauty contests are going out of fashion in Canada, even among the beauty queens.
Until now the main critics of beauty pageants in Canada have been feminists. But now sponsors and the event organizers say they are re-thinking this traditional ”celebration” of womanhood and, it looks like 1992 is going to be a year when most of the competition runways are empty.
”Beauty pageants are going the way of the dinosaur. Every major
(Canadian) beauty contest in the country has been canceled in the last year,” said Judy Rebick of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada`s largest feminist group. She cites the announcement to end the 45-year-old Miss Canada pageant in January and the end of the Miss Toronto Pageant last September as evidence of the trend.
The latest to add her voice to the chorus of disapproval is beauty queen Tara Paat, who last year was crowned Miss World Canada. In December she went on a tour of South Africa with more than 80 other Miss World contestants. Paat claims that the tour was a showcase of the exploitative nature of beauty pageants. She said it left her so disgusted that she withdrew from the contest on Dec. 16, just 12 days before the Miss World Pageant in Atlanta, leaving Canada without an entrant.
Paat`s criticism of the Miss World organizers includes what she calls displays of racism and a general insensitivity. She described some of the specific events of the South African tour in a public statement in January, explaining her decision to quit. She said she had understood that the tour`s intention was to promote African fashion and also to visit relief
organizations in the country.
”One evening the Miss World contestants attended a gala ball in a beautiful country club. . . . We saw a sign on the gate saying, `No Blacks Allowed.` I was in shock. I said to the bus driver, `I always said I would never step foot in a place that discriminates.` Due to the contract there was nothing I could do. I felt awful for the (black) contestants-Miss USA, Miss Kenya and many others. I can`t imagine how they felt.”
Inside, in the glamorous ballroom, Paat claimed that there was separate seating for black and white contestants. ”I was disgusted. All along I said this was wrong. I don`t agree with what this pageant stands for.”
Jeffrey Barnet, owner-organizer of the Miss World Canada contest, would neither confirm nor deny Paat`s comments.
Paat, who is 21 and who began appearing in beauty contests at the age of 10, also said she was disturbed at the way hungry kids were used as photo opportunities for the contestants.
”We arrived one day at a day-care site for the underprivileged. . . . The contestants were asked to hand out blankets and food. But only when the camera was rolling. So when you, the public, see it, we`ll look like we`re doing a world of good.
”We also visited the homeless,” she said. ”We were sent there to hand out food. When the food arrived there was only one large pot of rancid-smelling bean porridge. It was not nearly enough for the amount of homeless people waiting anxiously for a cup. But just enough to be filmed. I`ll never forget the children who didn`t receive any, standing there in tears, playing
(with) my dress.”
Paat doesn`t believe the presence of the Miss World contestants achieved any long-term benefit for the South Africans. ”I feel in the end we perpetuated their plight. I really believe that it`s important for the public to know what`s going on behind the scenes in the Miss World contests,” she explained in a telephone interview from her home in Vancouver.
Paat`s stand comes at a time when pageant organizers are feeling an economic pinch in Canada. Even Barnet says that Canadian business attitudes are changing.
”I think these world beauty pageants are a wonderful opportunity for the youngsters who start competing at a young age at community, municipal and provincial levels to (eventually) network and travel at an international level,” he said from his office in Vancouver. ”But it is getting harder to find people who are prepared to participate as sponsors.”
John Foss, president of the Association of Canadian Advertisers, which represents the country`s major corporations and 85 percent of the national advertising expenditure, said sponsorship of beauty events could give advertisers a bad image.
”Corporations today are very concerned at being associated with stereotyped presentations. Having a connection with a beauty pageant is outdated. It no longer takes account of women in executive level occupations, for example. There has to be a logical link between a product and using a beautiful woman to advertise it.”
Cosmetics, swimsuits and other fashion items still have that ”glamor”
link, Foss said. But packaged goods, detergents and financial institutions need to go for more realistic images.
Rebick agrees that at last sponsors and advertisers are becoming aware of the harm of being associated with a sexist image.
”The majority of men and women reject the vision of womanhood that beauty pageants represent,” she said. ”That`s why these events are having financial problems. And women especially are using their purchasing power more selectively,” she said. ”If they don`t like the coverage given to women they switch to other (brand names).”
Loss of sponsors and sagging public interest are reasons why the summer Miss Toronto pageant won`t be held this year. For the first time in 55 years the Metro Police Amateur Athletics Association, which organizes the event, couldn`t raise the cash.
”No one was interested in picking up the ($25,000 Canadian or about $21,000 U.S.) tab,” said organizer Gary Grant, a staff inspector on the force. ”The donated prizes were getting smaller and some sponsors dropped out. I think the world has moved on and beauty pageant just isn`t as relevant as it used to be.”
”Most women in Canada are pleased that this sort of archaic celebration is on the decline,” said Meg Hogarth of Media Watch, a Toronto-based organization that monitors the portrayal of woman and girls in the media.
Hogarth agreed that it is finances as much as feminism that has brought about the change in awareness.
”I would like to believe that advertisers are becoming more aware of the political values of women. Women are more than just objects of beauty. They are consumers, they occupy places in the workplace. They have a more varied role.”
There is one beauty contest in Canada that is bucking the trend: The 26th CHIN International Bikini Contest in Toronto still will take place in July. Johnny Lombardi, president of the multi-ethnic network CHIN-Radio, said that he had no trouble with sponsors.
”I think a pretty girl is nice,” he said. ”And we`re not going to be revealing anything more than what you can see on the beach or even in the malls.
”I think that I am affording these girls an opportunity. They don`t come from wealthy families and they need to make their way in life somehow,” he said. ”You would be amazed at how many talent scouts come to our picnic.”
”We have added a Mr. Bikini category to satisfy the girls,” Lombardi said. ”Twenty-five of the best-looking men we can find. You should hear the girls scream.”
