“Miss Universe is still judging women walking around in bathing suits. If it’s based on confidence, why are we zooming in on their bodies?”
Chloë Grace Moretz, eighteen year old actress and model, tweeted this Sunday night, following the crowning of Miss Colombia and then Miss Philippines. And she’s absolutely right. Miss Universe is one of the most publicized beauty pageants in the world, claiming they define what it means to be “confidently beautiful.” They also claim that their contestants must be intelligent, well-mannered and cultured…so why are they parading women around, judging them on their ability to strut on a stage in front of thousands of people wearing nothing but a bathing suit?
“It’s a new time,” Chloë says. “I think it’s time we cut the swimsuit section from Miss Universe.” If you google anything along the lines of ‘Miss Universe swimsuit’ you will get results along the lines of top ten bikini bodies and who wore it better, which completely defeats the purpose of a contest aimed at empowering confident women. What does the swimsuit portion of the pageant do anyway, besides attract a hormonal audience and perpetuate a sexist tradition? In addition to that, Chloë points out, “The host keeps overtly sexualizing the young women” which is not what this pageant should be about.
“Let’s do a Miss Universe based on interviews and public speaking and philanthropic tenacity,” suggests Chloë, an active philanthropist herself. If that was what the pageant was truly based on, it would be a much better way of defining the true “woman with stars.”
As we all know, beauty pageants have a history of shameless sexism. From the likes of Toddlers in Tiaras to Miss Universe, the sexist nature of beauty pageants and their tendency to pit women against each other needs to end now. Influential young women such as Moretz are paving the way for the rest of the world to oppose these harmful and shallow competitions.
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