Women came from all over the world to participate in Miss International Queen for the 2009 crown. Haruna Ai, 37, was named the winner, and thus the world's "most beautiful transsexual." Ali works as a Japanese television host, but she says her gender is continually under question in Japan. "I am very, very, very happy," she said. "I want contests like this to show everyone that they should love each other and live freely. The way of life in Japan is more traditional and transsexuals cannot live freely, but in Thailand they can do what they want."

Most of the participants have similar stories of discrimination. Maggie Gao, a contestant from China, says she won the Miss World Shenzhen title earlier this year, but once pageant officials learned she was born a man, she was stripped of her crown. For many of the women, this is a rare opportunity to, in the words of Camilia Dzelma, "show the world that I am not a freak." U.S. contestant Sunny Dee-Lite says she "can only hope for [an event like this] in the United States."

Even though the overall tone of the Sydney Morning Herald article is uplifting, there is something that irks me about the idea that the best way to empowerment and equality is equal objectification. These women talk about defying discrimination and living freely, something we certainly should celebrate. And yet, it's difficult not to wonder why this. Every goal stated on the Miss International Queen website is worthy (from donating to the world AIDS foundation to promote awareness of human rights issues), but does it have to be done through this forum? Can a beauty pageant - which judges and ranks women based almost entirely on their physical appearance and conformity to certain standards of feminine beauty - ever be truly positive?

Transsexual Miss World Contest Aims To Boost Awareness [Sydney Morning Herald]
Miss International Queen [Official Site]

Those are the words of Keith Lewis, the pageant's executive director, who also says this year's competition, "will change the essence of Miss California USA from a bathing suit beauty contest to the style of a runway show during fashion week." I'm not sure that "a runway show during fashion week" is actually more "progressive" than a "bathing suit beauty contest," but Lewis's statement does seem to imply that the pageant wants to move far away from everything last year's Miss California, Carrie Prejean, stood for.

From the emails they exchanged, it's safe to assume that Lewis is no big fan of the deposed Prejean. And I'm willing to bet that more than one pageant organizer was unhappy with an "opposite-marriage" advocate representing California (as a transplanted Californian myself, I thought the combination of Prejean and Prop. 8 made "our forward- looking state" seem pretty backward). Carrie Prejean only added to the existing stereotype that beauty pageants are for hyper-conventional women with reactionary values, and Miss California may be trying to de-pageant itself in order to escape this perception. The organization also plans to name two winners at its November 22 competition — if they really want to change their image, maybe they should crown a couple.

Miss California USA Strips Away Swimsuits [MyDesert.com]

Basically, it went like this: Cy came into the Gawker office with TLC publicist, whom I'll call Helen. Cy and I talked for about 50 minutes in a conference room, while Helen sat nearby. I ended up with much more footage than I could ever post, but whatever. I like to shoot a lot and trim from there. Yes, I had a lot of questions, but Cy had long answers. I had no problem with this, as it was an interesting conversation. I thought a lot of what he said was worth posting (as you can see in the video gallery below, which is organized by subject.)

When we finished, Helen said, "That was a hard-hitting interview." No it wasn't. It was about reality TV and beauty pageants. But OK. Whatever! I kind of just grinned. "I was not prepared for that," she said gravely, now looking at me as if I were a tornado that just passed through. "Oh yeah, well, I just think that given Jezebel's nature and the commenters' desire to dissect this sort of stuff, my line of questioning was appropriate." Keep in mind that I wasn't nearly as tough on Cy as many would have been. First of all, he's a nice guy that I believe is interested in the well-being of his clients. Secondly, most of those clients are teens so the whole, "This is child abuse!" reaction that you might have to other pageantsploitation fare like Toddlers and Tiaras does not really apply to King of the Crown. Finally, after prefacing the interview by saying that I wanted to talk not just about plot points, but actual issues, I felt that Cy was prepared for where I was going.

Helen disagreed. "I was not prepared for that, Cy was not prepared for that," she said, almost scolding. She explained that TLC had targeted Jezebel as an outlet for this coverage because of its snarky-but-uplifting nature. I had somehow betrayed her image of that. Still gravely she told me, "This was our hardest interview of the day." Well, glad to shake things up for you, I thought. I said, "Really?"

"I just wasn't prepared for that," she continued. "Is there any way I can see the interview before you post it?" I explained that I didn't know the official policy regarding such approval and she'd have to talk to Anna. "Well, how has it been with interviews in the past?" she asked. "We don't have third parties approving our content," I told her.

"I just wasn't prepared for that," she said again. As for Cy, I don't even know what he was doing at this point. He remained silent. Maybe it was his polite, Southern way. Maybe he didn't have an issue with talking frankly about the world he's ensconced in.

"Well, look," I said, leveling again. "A lot of people think reality shows are just mindless trash, but I don't believe that. I think you can examine so-called 'low culture' from an intelligent perspective and talk about its underlying issues. I figured any of those issues were fair game. I wasn't out to make anyone look stupid. In fact, I trusted that Cy was up for an intelligent conversation. And it turns out that he was, anyway." She assured me that he was very eloquent.

"I really wasn't prepared for that," she said to me yet again. All I could do at this point was shrug. I carefully considered her product and ended up proving that its purveyor could handle questions that probed beyond pageant tips and stage-mom smack talk. I didn't see the problem. They left soon after this, somewhat awkwardly of course, although Helen did attempt to break the tension by asking me what my favorite reality shows were. America's Next Top Model because it's insane and Rock of Love because it's jubilantly trashy, were my answers. I don't think she could relate.

Under different circumstances, if someone suggested that the hours I spent researching and thinking about a subject somehow translated into me not doing my job properly, I would probably lash out and end up yelling. I'm a hothead and condescension is my least favorite social indignity. Here, though, I never lost my cool. All along, I knew I was justified (and if you watch any of the excerpts from the interview, you'll see how not a big deal the whole thing is). But more than that, I was secure that if you're raising red flags for a publicist, you're probably doing your job as a journalist.


This is merely an intro - Cy talks about his professional title and how he got into pageants.


Here, Cy talks about Kayleigh, one of his clients whom we watched struggle with her weight throughout the King of Crowns pilot.


Q: Have you ever turned a client away who seems to be negatively affected by pageants? We also talk about whether pageants have the potential to devastate a girl's self-image.


On the pilot, one contestant who's practicing the interview competition is asked, "How do you respond to people who say that pageants objectify women?" Here's Cy's own answer to that question.


Here we talk about Cy's notorious client, Caitlin Upton (aka Miss South Carolina Teen 2007 aka the "Such as" girl), who begins her road to pageant redemption on King of the Crown. The show also interestingly examines her anguish as the result of her YouTube ridicule.


Q: Besides self-confidence and the ability to interview, do you see other practical uses of pageantry?


Finally, Cy talks about being a gay man in the pageant world, and whether his career has afforded him acceptance he might not have otherwise found in the South.

• A recent poll found that Russians are the most snap-happy - and possibly the most vain - people in Europe. Russians are also more likely to post pictures of themselves online than any other group studied. • Several schools in the UK have halted HPV vaccination following the death of a young girl. Although officials say the vaccine is safe, the batch that was administered to Natalie Morton is under investigation. • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has temporarily shelved the approval of Cervarix, another HPV vaccine marketed as an alternative to Gardasil. Officials state that this is unrelated to the recent death in Britain, but the vaccine is under review. • And in other cervical cancer news, a HPV vaccine will be available in Japan by year's end, according to a government panel. • The Detroit City Council are considering an amendment that would ban lap dances and require club workers to get certified for their positions. • Lawmakers across the pond have announced that starting today, police will have the power to ban anyone arrested for domestic violence from their home for up to 14 days. They hope that the new domestic violence protection orders - known as "go orders" - will give victims some much-needed "breathing space." • New research indicates that elderly men are more likely than elderly women to attempt suicide. Researchers also report that women who attempt suicide multiple times are likely to "complete suicide." • Maoist activists gathered on Thursday to protest the "Miss Nepal" pageant. "The contest is a forum where women are used by companies to popularize and sell their products," said protest leader Manu Humagain. "It is a blow to the dignity of the women. We oppose it." •

An AP article makes almost everything about Ms. Missouri Nursing Home sound pretty awesome. Nursing homes across Missouri ask residents "questions about their lives, participation in nursing home activities and attitudes toward life." Then they send selected winners on to district pageants and finally the state competition. At one district pageant, women told stories of hearing Martin Luther King speak and going to school in a one-room schoolhouse. The winner, 89-year-old Marietta Kirkpatrick talked about her husband, her favorite soap opera, and her 2003 Mustang. She later commented that she never would have considered pageants when she was younger. "When I was in school, I was a very quiet, introverted person," she said. "And I've changed."

The Ms. Missouri Nursing Home Pageant, and its counterparts in other states, sounds like a great way for women who are sometimes invisible to society to be visible again. They clearly have a lot of fun, and Kirkpatrick's comment that she's become more outgoing in her later years is especially inspiring. But do events that are really about storytelling need to be called "beauty pageants," thus linking them to competitions that are not always so good for women?

Ms. Missouri Nursing Home doesn't involve an evening gown competition, though some contestants do like to dress up. Participants in the Ms. Alabama Nursing Home pageant appear to spend time on hair and makeup, and the ones in this photo sport tiaras. An (old) Ms. Georgia Nursing Home page says, "With a lifetime of achievements all our contestants possess a wealth of 'beauty.'" Why not just focus on these achievements, though, without relating them to beauty?

We recognize that many nursing home residents enjoy dressing up and feeling attractive, especially when outside forces are saying older women can't be beautiful. And maybe nursing home competitions represent what pageant supporters always say are the good things about such events — building self-esteem and communication skills. Still, it's a little disturbing that pageants — which, for all their benefits, often focus on one fixed ideal of femininity and beauty — have extended their reach not only to the very young, but to the very old as well.

Beauty Queens Vie for Nursing Home Crown [AP, via CBS]

[Hefei, China; August 25. Image via Getty]

Chinese contestants vieing for a spot in the pageant finals of the Miss China/World contest, put on makeup during a rehearsal in Hefei, eastern China's Anhui province on August 25, 2009. Thousands of Chinese girls are trying their luck at famed and fortune in beauty pageants after 23-year-old model Zhang Zilin walked off with the crown of Miss World at the 57th Miss World Pageant in Sanya in 2007. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Directed by Ibtisam Mara'ana, Contestant No. 2 begins as a group of young women prepare to enter and compete in the Lady of All the Arabs, a pageant open to Arab-Israeli women of all religions and living in all areas of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. As evidenced from the clip above, the competition has all the hallmarks familiar to followers of Western pageants or beauty-based reality television: The older male mentor; the long hours of practice in comportment; the concerns over weight and figure. But the film takes a turn of sorts when it becomes clear that its primary focus is Duah Fares, a young Druze woman with dreams that go far beyond the purview of her particular Muslim sect - or country - and include a certain international star named Angelina:

Duah is one of seven children; her mom works as a driver for a carpool and is a supportive, somewhat wistful woman ("I made do with a home and children and taking care of my family. I gave my dream to my daughter, for her to fulfill," she says at one point.) Her father, of undetermined occupation, seems to adore her. Once Duah decides to enter the larger, more prestigious Miss Israel pageant, however, that support erodes somewhat, and, outside of her family, all hell slowly begins to break loose: Tensions arise regarding the conventions of her conservative community and the realities of the more revealing competition; the Miss Israel officials tell her she must pick between their pageant and the Lady of All the Arabs, a choice that could cost her family $5,000 in penalties; she takes off for Thailand with the Miss Israel officials, leaving only a note for her parents to find.

And then, this: Tabloid stardom, just like her idol:

Ibtisam Mara'ana can only do so much in the time she is allotted, but she crafts a compelling, discouraging story of a young woman's dreams being managed, manipulated, enabled, and (almost) violently thwarted by the men around her. I won't reveal much more - its worth watching in its entirety - except to say that the name "Angelina" probably won't sound the same way ever again.

Contestant No. 2 [Wide Angle-PBS]

• Dina Babbitt, who as a teenager kept herself and her mother alive at Auschwitz by painting portraits of prisoners for the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, has died at 86. Ms. Babbitt later worked as a commercial artist in America. • U2 is set to become the topic of discussion at an academic conference held at North Carolina Central University in October. U2: The Hype and The Feedback will examine the role of the mega-band in "changing the worlds of music, entertainment, popular culture, humanitarian relief, peace and social justice efforts." • Scientists from the University of Leeds believe that they may have discovered a unique "DNA signature" in human sperm that can only be recognized by eggs from the same species. The "lock and key" model may explain why otherwise healthy men are infertile and why we've never spotted any centaurs roaming around. • Speaking of horses, filly Rachel Alexandra beat out the competition at the Haskell Invitational this Sunday with the New York Times is calling a "preternatural performance." Rachel Alexandra is the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes, and she is the only filly to win the Haskell. • 13-year-old Jackie Rodriguez is pretty awesome: She has thrown 25 no-hitters in the past four seasons, but she still tells NPR that practicing an instrument is more difficult than playing softball. • Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes on her new career in television journalism: "I realized I love motivating and I love empowering and I love inspiring people. I did that as an athlete for 18 years, and I am able to do that as a motivational speaker now as well as doing work on television." •  Police in northern Nigeria have found another group of women and children that may have been abducted by the Boko Haram sect. The group of 140 was found locked in buildings in Maiduguri, and many of them were suffering from pneumonia, fever and rashes. • On Sunday, a bid to set a new world record for the number of women photographed wearing bikinis in one place failed when only several hundred ladies showed up at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. The current record was set earlier this month in Russia, when 1,923 women participated in the prearranged photo shoot. • New research conducted by the Tokyo police indicates that 24% of elderly shoplifters are driven to steal by feelings of loneliness, and another 8% cited lack of motivation in life as their main reason for shoplifting. • The 14-year-old Liberian boy charged with raping an 8-year-old girl in Arizona will be tried as an adult, said the Maricopa County attorney. Steven Tuopeh is facing more than 57 years in prison if convicted on all counts. • Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have examined the brain scans of women suffering from anorexia and found that patients with eating disorders are more likely to stick to familiar behavior responses than those in the control group. They linked the patterns in behavior to a certain network pathway, which plays a role in controlling actions under rapidly changing environmental demands. •

My favorite part about how women were discovering how to pleasure themselves is this lady's face when she's shown a vibrating dildo.

The documentary also talks about the feminist protest of the 1969 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, a pivotal moment in the women's movement. Usually, for retrospectives on feminism, we hear a lot from scholarly talking heads who have not only studied and analyzed the movement, but were also part of it. But Sex in '69 featured a lesser-examined — but equally illuminating — viewpoint: that of a 1969 Miss America contestant. In this clip, Susan Anton, Miss California 1969, gives her take on how the protest affected her. Interestingly, 40 years later, she is grateful for women's liberation, and thinks we still have a long way to go.

Padukone, 23, has risen to stardom quickly in the past two years, which is especially unlikely, since her family is not connected to the film industry and she's not from Mumbai, according to CNN. Her father is a professional badminton player and, as a teenager she planned to follow in his footsteps and travelled the country competing in badminton tournaments. But at 16, she decided she wanted to model and began appearing in commercials and music videos.

Padukone got her break with director Farah Khan spotted her in a music video and cast her in the 2007 film Om Shanti Om opposite prominent Bollywood star Shahrukah Khan. In addition to becoming a hit in India, the film earned $45 million worldwide and became the second highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time. Padukone says:

"Things for me changed quite overnight, actually. I remember a couple of months before the film release, not too many people knew me. In November 2007 when my film released and immediately after that I had to travel to New York, to Dubai and to London, and suddenly everyone on the streets started recognizing me, especially the Indians. That's when I realized that things have changed."

Though Bollywood-style dancing has been a part of many Indian beauty pageant contestants' routines since more Indian women began winning pageants in the 1990s, the success of Indian films abroad has inspired contestants to become far more serious about their dancing, Reuters reports. In the video below, this year's Indian Miss World contestants train with leading Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar in the hope that the recent popularity of Bollywood films (and Slumdog Millionaire) will make them stand out in front of an international audience.

The New Face Of Bollywood [CNN]
Miss India Steps Up With Bollywood [Reuters]

Russin wastes no time and gets right to dishing dirt on her former competition:

I learned valuable information from eavesdropping in conversations among the over 100 contestants, things like the secret to losing weight in a weekend flush is Mexican laxatives you must buy online or across the border. If you spit out a pizza slice in a trash can after each bite you won't gain weight. Who cares if it looks really gross to onlookers? You're saving 500 calories! I also learned how restrooms smell after a load of girls vomit after catering…

Russin claims that her fellow contestants were ignorant, divas, rude to hotel maids, and alleges that half the women had implants, nose jobs and Botox. She also notes that when asked, "Who is the most influential Texan in history?" a contestant during the Miss Texas USA preliminaries answered, "Matthew McConaughey. He has funny movies and teaches us a lot about fitness." This answer earned her a spot in the Top 15. (While Russin calls many of the contestants "brainless," she manages to spell Farrah Fawcett's name wrong.)

The truth is, none of the allegations — including the report that booze and boyfriends were present in contestants' hotel rooms — are really that surprising. What is shocking is that Krystle Russin, a woman with the wits about her to write "I wonder when pageantry will stay where it belongs: the last century" entered the Miss Texas USA pageant to begin with. Why, as a writer and bright young woman, did she participate in a "beauty" "contest" for which the only requirement is that you can afford the entry fee? Her answer? "To put another notch in my belt… It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Miss Texas USA: What Really Happens at Pageants [Huffington Post]

The woman who will win the title "Miss Beautiful Morals" need not be attractive, nor particularly well groomed. Judges are not looking for perky breasts or polished nails. In sharp contrast to our own Jessica-Simpson-bikini-clad contestants is Sukaina al-Zayer, a Saudi beauty pageant hopeful, who wears heavy black robes and shields her face with a veil. She looks forward to the pageant as her chance to show the world her devotion and humility.

Pageant founder Khadra al-Mubarak believes that the pageant will help elevate certain values, with special emphasis on respect for one's parents. "The idea of the pageant is to measure the contestants' commitment to Islamic morals... It's an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman's body and looks," she said. She says the winner won't necessarily be pretty, since the judges care primarily about "the beauty of the soul and the morals."

The pageant also follows an unusual format:

So after the pageant opens Saturday, the nearly 200 contestants will spend the next 10 weeks attending classes and being quizzed on themes including "Discovering your inner strength," "The making of leaders" and "Mom, paradise is at your feet" - a saying attributed to Islam's Prophet Muhammad to underline that respect for parents is among the faith's most important tenets.

Pageant hopefuls will also spend a day at a country house with their mothers, where they will be observed by female judges and graded on how they interact with their mothers, al-Mubarak said. Since the pageant is not televised and no men are involved, contestants can take off the veils and black figure-hiding abayas they always wear in public.

The winner will receive $2,600 and runners up will get $1,300. However, al-Mubarak says she continually reminds the girls that the goal is not to win the money, but to display one's respect for her parents. One contestant, Awsaf al-Mislim, echoes al-Mubarak's sentiments, saying that the title is not nearly as important as the chance to prove her devotion. "I will be proud to show everyone that I competed with the others over my devotion to my parents," the 24-year-old said.

Although the Miss Beautiful Morals pageant may seem the polar opposite of the Western-style beauty competitions, perhaps the most interesting thing about this pageant is how it reflects back on our own expectations for beauty queens. Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe — each competition claims to be searching for the perfect woman, who is at once both beautiful and well-spoken, compassionate and well-endowed. While pageants in the US place a much greater emphasis on exterior beauty, there's a pretense that the winner must uphold certain values; she has to represent our cultural beliefs just as much as Miss Beautiful Morals has to represent theirs. When Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean smiled blankly and mouthed something about how she was "brought up" to only recognize "opposite marriage," judges were outraged over her answer; they had expected "more" from Miss USA. Since then, Prejean has suffered through a nude photo scandal and a breast implant scandal. A pageant hopeful in the UK was recently nearly disqualified because of rumors that she had appeared in x-rated movies. A recent where-are-they-now article in the Times about Miss World winners examines how well their once "perfect" looks have held up, while comparing their various post-pageant achievements. Through removing the physical aspect of the so-called beauty pageants, Miss Beautiful Morals reveals our own ambitious relationship to beauty queens. It also raises a whole new set of questions about obedience - for, although the Miss USA competition is not explicitly about obeying in the same way that Miss Beautiful Morals is, we still require them to adhere to a strict set of moralized rules and regulations - and to prove their complete devotion to an empty title.

Here She Comes: Saudi's Miss Beautiful Morals [AP]
Saudi Arabia: An Inner Beauty Pageant [LA Times]

Related: Inside The Miss World Summit [Times]
Town Beauty Contestant In Pornography Row [Telegraph]

Miss Black Sacramento and Miss Teen Black Sacramento were crowned over the weekend. When they first began, mainstream pageants like Miss America had rules barring black women from competing. (Although since 1984, six women of African descent have been named Miss America.) The Sacremento Bee asks the obvious question: Do we still need race-divided pageants? Notes reporter Ed Fletcher:

Among the thousands of beauty pageants across the country, scores cater to specific ethnic groups. Miss Black Sacramento, Miss Black California, Miss Black America, Miss Latina California, Miss Latina, Miss Asia Sacramento, and Miss Asian America are just a few.

But instead of asking if we still need ethnic pageants, shouldn't the question be whether we need pageants at all?

Here's something else to consider: Maybe more pageants ought to be like the Miss Black Sacremento pageant? Unlike Miss America or Miss USA, there is no swimsuit competition. More points are offered for talent than beauty. Winners get scholarship money, but while they are preparing for the pageant, they learn other skills:

In the months before the young ladies take the stage, they meet every Saturday for workshops to refine their skills: walking gracefully, giving interviews, public speaking.

On April 25, the eight competing in Miss Black Teen Sacramento and the eight in the adult competition sat down to learn dining etiquette – starting with how to set a formal table.

While Miss America claims its pageant "exists to provide personal and professional opportunities for young women to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community," and focuses on scholarships, there is still a "lifestyle and fitness" category of competition — also known as Swimsuit. Miss USA has always been a "bathing beauty" or swimsuit pageant and was founded in 1952 …by Catalina Swimsuits.

Clearly, the young women who apply feel that there is a for competitions like Miss Black Sacramento. In doing so, they become part of a community, showcase their talents, earn cash for school. It seems silly to ask if it's outdated, when the same could be asked of all similar competitions — including Miss America. But if you're gonna have pageants — and not, say, nationally televised Mathlete competitions — why not to have ones which are ethnically specific? And shouldn't more of them nix the swimsuit portion?

Miss Black Sacramento Pageants Spark Delight — And Some Doubts [Sacramento Bee]

Image of Miss Black California USA via Miss Black Los Angeles Pageant.]

Michael Galanes, one man interviewed in the piece, says, "People see a four-year-old child in excessive hair and makeup and immediately conclude that that's wrong. But that's a very shallow interpretation. These girls grow, become more articulate, make friends, and come out of their shy shells." Okay, but what about the fact that there are age categories that range from 0 - 18 months, for which infants don hair pieces, blush and stiff, uncomfortable dresses with sharp sparkles and hazardous beading? What shells are they coming out of, besides their embryonic sacks?

He goes on: "If JonBenét had been a Brownie, would the Brownies have gotten all the bad press that pageants did?" Um, the last I recall, Brownies teaches little girls how to help senior citizens, tie knots, sew buttons, and make new friends and keep the old, not how to make the "correct" kind of eye contact with a group of people judging them on the way they stand and smile.

Don't get me wrong: I love exaggerated femininity as much as the next Dolly Parton or Mariah Carey fan, and I more than love documentaries like Living Dolls, and it's great to read something like, "If you're gay and in pageants, it doesn't matter. It's kind of like Hollywood. Sexuality is very accepted in this business." But I also believe that such a look has to be something that is chosen for an individual by that individual, not by their parents or paid consultants, gay or straight.

Queen of Tots [Radar]
Earlier: The Best Child Beauty Pageant Coaches Are Queens