March 28, 2012

• When Is A Little Plastic Too Much?

  The Canadian born beauty Jenna Talackova was entered into the Miss Universe Pageant after winning the right through competition in Canada, but the U.S. pageant organization disqualified her the other day because she was born a male. 

  That's right, Miss Talackova is a transgendered woman.  Pageant officials will no doubt say that she was not disqualified because she is transgendered, but because she lied on her application form when asked if she is transgendered.  Okay, she shouldn't have lied about it, but let's be honest. The question itself is not a legal question.  Employers are not allowed to ask such a question on job applications.  No academy is allowed to consider such an issue on an admissions application.  The question is there solely as a way to identify and filter out (discriminate against) individuals based on there sexual identity. That is illegal in Canada, and Canadian officials had no problem submitting her entry to the organizers.  It's also illegal in many areas of the United States.

  Now I'll grant that that the founders of the Pageant never envisioned a scenario whereby a transgendered person would enter the pageant, let alone actually be attractive enough to have a good shot at winning the competition on her looks alone, but it has happened and I have to ask,

  "How much plastic is too much?"

  Many of the contestants, if not most of them in recent years, have breast implants, nose jobs, a little botox here and there, and even hip and butt augmentation surgery, and they are not disqualified.  So why is surgery "down there" an exception?  If an individual has successfully undergone sexual reassignment surgery, what's the problem?  If she looks like a woman, sounds like a woman, acts like a woman, and presents herself as a woman in her daily life, i.e. not just on a stage, what makes her so different that she cannot compete, especially since the major purpose of the pageant is for designers and manufacturers to have an opportunity to show off their gowns and swimsuits and for the promoters to make money on television advertising deals? 

  Could it be that some people are just uncomfortable in their own skins and don't want to have to face up to that question?  Or perhaps the organizers are too concerned with what other people might think if they openly supported common decency and basic human rights. 

  [UPDATE:] The pageant has reversed its ruling to allow Ms. Talackova to compete.  The rules have also been changed to allow such coemption in the future when the contestant's gender is recognized by the country that she represents.

  UPDATE:She ultimately placed in the top twelve finalists.

  • 8:50 am
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