Beauty Onstage

My op-ed this week was prompted by an article that appeared in the Pakistan Post last week featuring Miss Pakistan World on the cover, with a two page spread inside. I was so angry that the PP had published yet another cover page with a model that I called the editor, who to her credit, responded in a really patient manner. She had come under a lot of fire for publishing this article and had wanted to do it to present a different side of the paper, but people were not really appreciating that, so I decided to tackle the topic.
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The June 5-June 11, 2008, issue of the Pakistan Post featured an article about Miss Pakistan World and instigated quite a few comments among the Post’s readers. To be honest, I was seething with anger the moment I saw Miss Pakistan gracing the cover of the newspaper. I am vehemently opposed to all beauty pageants, whether they are Miss World, Miss Universe, or Miss Pakistan, because they serve only to fetishize beauty and propagate the idea that women can and should be viewed as sexual objects.

However, despite my personal opinions on this matter, I believe that this article should have been published. The press should be free to print articles about controversial topics, because how else will there be discussion and a free exchange of ideas if there is no freedom in the media? Discussions shape people’s attitudes and ideas, and even if we disagree with the idea presented, we are better able to articulate our thoughts precisely because we are well-informed. Too often, the Pakistani community assiduously avoids discussions of controversial topics, when it is precisely these topics that should be discussed. Subjects that confront us when living in Western societies are blithely ignored by parents and the community, with disastrous consequences resulting for Pakistani youth. It is not enough to say participating in X action is wrong—we should be prepared to provide insightful evidence for our opinions. Likewise, those who have presented dissenting opinions shouldn't be lambasted, but rather, dialogue should be opened up. The end result will be a more educated society with well reasoned foundations for its beliefs and traditions. One of the ways in which to accomplish this goal is through presenting topics, however controversial they may be, in the media.

Supporting freedom of the press allows both sides to present their opinions to the world, and I exercise this right every time I write an article. In this past issue of the Pakistan Post we read about one aspect of the Miss Pakistan World pageant, and I applaud the author for introducing this topic to us, but at the same time, certain questions were left unexplored. Should anyone who participates in these pageants—whether she wears a bikini or not, whether she dates or not—be viewed as a representative of Pakistani culture? Unequivocally, absolutely not. Let us not even venture towards the Islamic aspect of beauty pageants, because one need only examine verses 30 and 31 in Surah 24 that clearly enjoin modest garb and attitude for both men and women to understand the Islamic perspective on beauty pageants. Instead, let us approach this from a different angle: that of the modern day feminist.

The problem lies not with what a beauty pageant contestant is wearing so much as the very nature of the pageant and the message she is sending when she participates in it. On the Nadia Khan show on Geo TV, Sonia Ahmed, the organizer of the Miss Pakistan World Pageant, stated that the beauty pageant culture “is a women’s rights culture.” I don’t know what sort of women’s rights she has in mind, but parading women onstage with the sole purpose to choose the most beautiful of them does not advocate any sort of women’s rights in my mind. Judging women on their figures and faces propagates a culture that trivializes women’s achievements and emphasizes only outer beauty. It sends the message to women all over the globe that their intellect is secondary to their physical appearance, and reflects a value system that hinders any celebration of true femininity that goes beyond merely the physical. Sonia Ahmed conveniently forgot about the 1969 feminist protest of Miss America in Atlantic City when she effused about how beauty pageants support women’s rights. The women who really have fought for women’s rights would completely refute this statement.

Therefore, even if Mahleej Sarkari had participated in Miss Pakistan World fully clothed, I would have disagreed with Sonia Ahmed’s categorization of Ms. Sarkari as “an ambassador.” An ambassador does not denigrate women and does not participate in a culture that sexualizes women. Sonia Ahmed also mentioned Miss Pakistan World’s efforts to bring a softer image of Pakistan to the West, claiming that people who see Mahleej in a bikini and in Pakistani clothes change their opinion about Pakistan. Having a woman show off her body will never change people’s minds about a country. Rather, having Pakistani women speak up about women’s issues, educating women, producing female Pakistani physicians, lawyers, journalists, advocates, artists, engineers, and businesswomen will. What Pakistan needs is not more women to walk onstage in a skimpy two-piece; what it needs are successful, educated, and articulate women who truly represent the best aspects of Pakistani culture.