LSA Opinion: Are beauty pageants still relevant?

Let’s talk about anything but Thai politics this week. While a new prime minister has been named, a new beauty queen has also been crowned in Thailand this week. With so much going on in the country, the Lifestyle Asia Thailand team steps to the podium to discuss: Are beauty pageants still relevant?

In many countries around the globe, beauty pageants — especially televised beauty pageants — are slipping from the scene. In an opinion piece published by Aljazeera late last year, the author even went so far as to say that it is “time to abolish them,” detailing the propagation of unrealistic beauty ideals, lack of inclusivity, and the notion that beauty pageants are “out of place in our modern age.”

While these points are extremely valid, and fit with our moving towards a more body-positive society, they do not seem to echo too loudly in Thailand. Just last year, JKN Global Group, helmed by Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, acquired the Miss Universe beauty pageant business, acquiring with it an audience of more than 500 million viewers around the globe, according to the Bangkok Post. Understandably, a huge chunk of these viewers come from Thailand, a country that has a long-standing admiration for beauty and beauty contests, and for pageantry.

Just this week, Anntonia Porsild was crowned the 24th Miss Universe Thailand. Many, many fans followed the competition, buying the exclusive merchandise, following the individual contestants on social media, and discussing their strengths and weaknesses on online forums. Influencers in their own right, competitors received quite the celebrity status, bringing much mayhem and mania to social and streaming platforms — even amongst millennials.

How can it be, then, that certain circles and societies around the world are so strongly against beauty pageants, and others organise full-fledged viewing parties to commemorate them?

In an effort to make meaning of the madness, the Lifestyle Asia Thailand team picks a skinny bone with the business of beauty pageants. Are they empowering or exploitative? Do they fascinate or do they fetishise? Glorify or horrify? And most importantly, in your individual opinion, are beauty pageants still relevant to our lives today?

[Hero Image Credit: Amy Leigh Barnard/Unsplash]

LSA Opinion: Are beauty pageants still relevant?

They seem to be relevant and are a good source of entertainment for a lot of people. However, I think it’s one of the main factors that promotes only one kind of beauty and strengthens the beauty standard in the society.
—PC, Content Writer

Beauty pageants are very much relevant. A lot of people, especially the LGBTQ+ community, follow beauty pageants with passion. They even hold watch parties and lengthy discussions on social media. Once the pageant season comes, arts students will stop criticising beauty privilege for a while and share every post of the pageant on social media. As long as these pageants have this much following, they will still be very relevant.
—VC, Content Writer

Although I like to keep up with beauty pageants, they’re not that relevant. It just shows what’s wrong with today’s self-obsessed society. There’s always a certain look these girls have to obtain, especially to win the competition. Also, even though I have nothing against plastic surgery, some winners don’t even have natural “raw” beauty. It’s constructed. Lowkey, it’s bad for some people’s mental health, like, “if I had money I could look good like them, but I don’t.”
—PC, Content Writer

I don’t personally follow beauty pageants. While it’d be obviously cool for me to say they’re not relevant to our present day, I still think these contests still matter, especially here in Thailand. They don’t just show pretty faces on the stage. They’re platforms to remind the girls out here that their lives hold so much potential. Given the limited number of good role models in Thai mainstream media, these beauty pageants could be perfect for that role.
—PL, Features Editor

I have a friend who competed in beauty pageants, and she is one of the kindest people I know (besides, of course, also one of the most “beautiful”). I didn’t think much of beauty pageants until I met her, but I witnessed first-hand how she used her platform to bring awareness to issues back in her home town, far away from Bangkok. She wrote a children’s book, and used the profits from her pageantry to help young children in need. It was inspiring, and I really admired her commitment.
—LG, Creative Content Director

For the past years now, pageants have featured women who are not just physically beautiful but well-spoken, educated, and with a heart for serving others. Watching them answer so articulately and to learn what they’ve been doing in their respective communities and countries is actually quite inspiring. Perhaps the question now is not whether pageants are still relevant but maybe if our perception of women entering these pageants is wrong.
—ES, Senior Writer