Miss Earth Beauty Pageant Parades Candidates While Faces Are Covered – Are The Girls Objectified?
Miss Earth, one of the big four major beauty pageants, held its Figure and Form Competition today, Oct. 18, at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, Philippines. The said portion is part of the pageant’s pre-judging criteria which will be tallied to determine the delegates who will enter the first cut of the semi-finals round.
Eighty-six candidates from all over the world arrived in the Philippines to compete for the Miss Earth 2017 crown, whose current titleholder is Katherine Espin of Ecuador.
However, the said beauty contest caught the ire of pageant lovers when its candidates appeared on stage wearing two-piece white bikinis and a green sash saying their country’s name while their faces were covered with white veil. Such activity appeared relatively different from the usual swimsuit competition.
But the Miss Earth Organization had already expected different reactions from the people, inside and outside of the pageant circle. “More often than not when you go out of the norm, there will always be questions and negativity. This is expected,” the organizers said in the statement issued during the presentation of Miss Earth Philippines pageant back in July 2017.
Organizers: Girls Not Objectified
In a previous report published by Rappler, the organizers explained why the ladies wore veils during this pre-judging round. The purpose of the face covers was to direct the judges focus on the “figure and form” of the candidates since it was the theme of that specific portion.
The MEO continued, “To promote strict impartiality during our prejudging and for the first time allowed the event to be seen by the public.”
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“We honestly do not believe that the girls were objectified or that they felt objectified, remember we are working with millennials,” it added. “They speak their mind and will no way allow themselves to be put on the negative side.”
Meanwhile, the preliminary judging for Facial Beauty and Intelligence will be held in separate private events on Oct. 25 and 29, respectively.
Miss Earth beauty pageant kicked off last October 9 with a welcome dinner at the Carousel Gardens in Mandaluyong City. The finals night will take place at the SM Mall Of Asia Arena in Pasay City, the same venue as Miss Universe 2016, on Nov. 4, 2017.
[Featured Image by Miss Earth USA Andreia Gibau/Instagram]
