Beauty contests and the beasts

Do pageants hypersexualize women? It’s an important discussion now that Women’s Month is a few days away, and Jeffrey Epstein, the #MeToo movement, US President Donald Trump’s former ownership of Miss Universe and Miss USA are again viral online. Since it is still February, which is Love Month and Pro-Life Month, issues like these call not only for the love and protection of women and children, but also of every man and human being and their dignity.

With the worldwide Web cluttered with fake news, disinformation and other trash content, among the best ways to remind the youth of the value of upholding dignity is through public events like beauty pageants.

My mom, Ma. Rosella, was a beauty queen; she held several titles from college and was recruited to join Mutya ng Pilipinas. As such, I grew up watching every available pageant on TV — from Miss Manila to Miss Universe, which has become handy in my coverage of local and international pageants for over a decade now.

It is also through pageants that I developed a deep love for fashion. I had exclusive interviews with several Miss Universe winners — from our very own Catriona Gray, Pia Wurtzbach, Margie Moran and Gloria Diaz, to winners from other countries like Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Iris Mittenaere, Zozibini Tunzi and R’Bonney Gabriel.

In 2022, I served as a virtual judge at Binibining Pilipinas, a landmark year for the competition that celebrated “sisterhood” and the return of in-person activities such as pageants after the pandemic. As such, it was marked by the reunion of many Binibining Pilipinas queens, including my “ate” (big sister) Samantha Bernardo (Kathryn is our bunso — just kidding!) and Nicole Cordoves, who, like my childhood friend and our school’s batch valedictorian, architect Carlos “Caloy” Buendia Jr., trained Catriona for Miss Universe. I also had an exclusive interview with Carlos and asked him to teach me how to “Lava Walk,” the very iconic pasarela he created for Catriona, but he was already so umay (tired) of it.

Having this very long relationship with pageants, however, does not mean I am all for it. Honestly, I have mixed feelings. As I’ve witnessed through the years, pageants generally give both a realistic and a very “unrealistic” portrayal of women and men. On the “realistic” side, these competitions highlight the contenders’ achievements, advocacies and thoughtful answers at the Q&A (question and answer) portion, serving as inspiration for the audience.

But on the “unrealistic” side, pageants hide these contestants’ real beauties under thick makeup. Their svelte figures communicate that “this is what beautiful should look like” — when, in fact, many of these faces and bodies have been surgically enhanced. Yes, contest rules have expanded to include “body positivity,” but in reality, the big-boned and the petite have not bagged major crowns.

Several pageant insiders and queens told me, usually “off the record,” that some contenders were peddled by “pimps,” who were sometimes also their managers, stylists and makeup artists, to “sexual predators” such as politicians and businessmen. These reliable sources asked for anonymity for fear of their lives because, as I’ve personally experienced through trolls and some pageant organizers that also harassed me during my coverage, many handlers bank on their “manok” (contestants) as milking cows, so they would fight tooth and nail, even to the point of death threats, just for their alaga (contestant) to win.

Mr. and Ms. Young Padua

Yes, covering a pageant is really entertaining — I personally enjoy seeing these contenders’ creative costumes and gowns, as well as exchanging notes and comparing picks with my hardcore pageantera (pageant aficionado) friends and pageant correspondent colleagues. But the journey to the crown is not always neat — with lots of backstage drama — mean girls backstabbing, hurting and sabotaging other candidates; rich candidates’ families paying judges and organizers; minors being subject to human trafficking and exploitation; candidates being pushed to mental health breakdown and death through cyberbullying.

Thus, being invited to become the chair of the board of judges at Mr. and Ms. Young Padua in Pila, Laguna was such a very unique and interesting experience. First of all, San Antonio de Padua College board of trustees chairman Dodie V. Figueroa Jr. picked my husband, Atty. Nicolo Bernardo, and I to chair the board of judges for the male and female segments of the pageant because not being from Pila and not personally knowing any of the contestants gave a lot of confidence that the contest would be objectively judged.

Second, the 14 pairs of candidates came in different shapes and sizes, with many big-boned women and petite men making it to the top five, making the pageant truly a body-positive one. Although “beauty” is still among the criteria, the contest gave more premium to “appropriateness” and “elegance” as these were equivalent to 30 to 40 percent. This explains that although many are standouts in terms of beauty, intelligence, posture and confidence, they did not win because at the end of the day, their “appropriateness” for being a Catholic school’s representative weighted more heavily.

Although I didn’t know my two other fellow judges at the female category, and didn’t talk about our individual choices and opinions on the candidates, I was surprised to see that we gave relatively the same scores.

Some contestants had impressive but daring gowns and school uniforms, which they paraded while doing some go-go dancing or Arabian Nights gyrations, in front of a large crowd that ranged from fellow minors to old barangay men. These almost bare-it-all outfits and suggestive body language by the 16- to 17-year-old contestants were not appropriate for minors in a Catholic school setting.

This is why I’m very thankful to the pageant that “appropriateness” was the criterion that had the most weight. It is a reminder that pageants should uphold dignity and respect. In fact, save for Miss Grand International, I’ve not seen suggestive movements and dancing even at the swimwear portions of Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International.

Yes, pageants are also for championing sexuality, which is part of male and female empowerment, but again, this is not appropriate in a Catholic school setting. Had it been another secular pageant among legal-age contenders, it would have been understandable.

In general, the student contestants exhibited admirable grace under pressure. Their personality development training was their best prize. Most notable was how the five finalists answered the Q&A portion, wherein they picked a hashtag and elaborated on it. We were struck by Mikaella Faith Turallo’s opening line: “Failure is part of success.” She went on to win Ms. Humilitas 2026. For me, Ms. Patiens 2026 Ambie Van Rysseghem was the runaway winner for posture and confidence — being able to keep her stance and stage presence even during intermission numbers makes her ready to shine at national pageants — just like Dr. Trisha Martinez, school alumna and past school pageant winner, who went on to win second runner-up at Binibining Pilipinas 2024. I was told Martinez did not have plans to join another pageant nowadays as she is now the school’s resident dentist.

Ms. Young Padua 2026 Jherein Kim Mosico was also impressive for boldly showing her faith in her answer; the only one among candidates to cite a Bible passage and to wear a Filipiniana butterfly sleeve. My husband and I are very grateful to Sir Dodie and Teacher CJ Bolleser, the musical mentors of our children, as well as to San Antonio de Padua College president Elisa T. Martinez; Academic and Student Affairs and Services director Ma. Mimie M. Castillo; pageant chair Irish D. Villanueva and student activity coordinator Rixequel M. Genteroy for inviting us and taking care of us and our kids while we were judging. Congratulations for a well-organized and impactful event!