Who Wants to be Miss Universe?

                                  (photo: setcelebs.com)

There is this anxiety among the gay community and the enthusiasts on the forthcoming Miss Universe pageant. They are, of course, rooting for the country’s bet to win the most-coveted crown in terms of beauty pageants. The young gays who are still in high school are planning to be absent on Monday for them to see the pageant live on cable TV or the live streaming. The older ones who are already working already filed their leave of absence from work for the said event.

Two things come to mind? First, why is it that this event is being linked to gays? Second is: Do the people understand that this is a franchise, meaning a business of its own?

Let us try to understand the psychology behind the first question: The reason why gays gravitate on the pageant. The Americans introduced the popularity of beauty contests in the early American colonial period. According to Prof. Wendell Capili, Philippine carnivals were already present in 1908 which was supposed to promote different products from the Philippines. Then, the influx of the different beauty contests emerged. During those times, homosexuality is still considered as taboo and a “sin”. Thus, the word closet gays were coined. Most of these people were so obsessed with dressing up like women inside closed doors to avoid ridicule and condemnation. They pictured themselves as the most beautiful women being looked up and adored by many.

The evolution of the so-called open-mindedness happened because of cross cultures and the influence of mass media. When the LGBT (lesbian, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) movement heightened, more gays come out of the open. Trans-women then became present in conspicuous areas of the society that they started to be part of it. In, short, they have become accepted as part of the diversity of cultures in the ecology.

Despite this, oppression and prejudice are still hurled to the gays. This is probably the reason why they attract to the highest affirmation of beauty in the land, er, the universe. They fantasize to be as beautiful as the crowned woman since she is the epitome of womanhood. If the universe accepts this girl as the most beautiful one, why not affiliate oneself to her? They even claim to be of similar poise and bearing of the current Miss Universe so to convince themselves that they are beautiful even with the obvious raised eyebrows of others. Of course, they understand that they are not, they just have to air out such need to be “accepted” by everybody.

Also, the majority of us Filipinos experience oppression and ridicule of sorts. Take for example the brouhaha over the side comments of that Jordanian actress named Mais Hamdan generalizing how Filipino workers mispronounce words with a funny accent. She was shocked by the flood of retaliation to her by the Pinoy netizens to the point that the actress publicly apologized because of the words she uttered two years ago. We dislike being criticized and looked down. We had enough of colonization that we must strike back. One way is being acknowledged as the most beautiful person in the universe.

Still, we have to understand that our fixation to such beauty pageants made the organizers and the franchise owners millionaires. The advertisers and the network who air the event (who are also the co-owners of the franchise) would raise hell in buying air time for the coronation night. Miss Universe Organization is even thankful to the Philippines and the Filipinos in general for the support in making the event one of the sought-after live shows in the land.

But then, why do we have to be analytical on such things? What matters most is the exhilaration of the moment. The time when we clutch the pillows in our bedrooms and pray hard for Miss Philippines to be the one; The presence of that bitter taste in the mouth when the Q & A will come and we try to compose the right answers in our heads as if we are the contestant; The unexplained glee when Miss Philippines will be in the Top 5… Yes, we seem to be her. She represents our insecurities and when she wins, it is like slapping the world in the face while screaming: WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU!