The Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2007

While I am a staunch believer in Womens' Rights, I will admit to be oddly fascinated by beauty pageants. I think it's mostly got to do with what and how people define beauty and what makes a person enter the competitions. I've been particularly intrigued by the Asian pageants due to my own racial background and a friend competing in one a few years ago.

The Asian Ideal of beauty is not particularly different from other races (i.e. taller, slim etc) but there are a few aspects that set it apart. There is a big emphasis on being pale. The MHK pageant often has a token tanned girl within the competition but is almost never guaranteed to win a big prize. When Shermon Tang (left) won Miss Photogenic in 2005, she was widely derided as being an ugly *ban-ban* (filipino maid) who got the award due to her connections. While I find her neither particularly attractive or ugly, her photos since then have shown her skin to have undergone extensive whitening. (Image from www.misshongkongpageant.com/mbphotogenic.htm.)

And then there is the emphasis on being thin. While I'm aware being slim is a pre-req in these kinds of things, I think the Asian ideal of *thin* is something a little extreme. Take for example the 2001 winner Shirley Yeung who at 43kg, had a BMI of 16.17 (height 5'4). I do believe a BMI of less than 17.5 is a feature of anorexia nervosa. I'm not that I'm saying she was anorexic, I'm saying the definitions in the pageant/society are a somewhat extreme.

The reason why I'm writing this entry is because I've been following the pageant press this year
and I'm becoming increasingly outraged by the publicity around contestant number 2, Lily Ho Ngo Yee (right, image source). At 18 years old, she was considered a favourite to win until the contestants were photographed in bikinis, where she has since been derided for having "wide shoulders, full bottom and thick hands (thick hands?!?source) and since being nicknamed "Miss Hips" (source). People, the girl has a BMI of approx 19, a 24 inch waist and 34 inch hips, neither measurements are as huge as you seem to think. Consider that the slimness of her waist may produce an optical illusion which highlight her hips in comparison? I found it particularly sad to read the translation of this article where after the girls were interviewed and offered beauty and slimming treatments, Lily was questioned about slimming her hips and she indicated her intention to slim herself all over in response to the criticism.

Girl, you are thin enough as it is and considered the best in the competition (until forced to wear a bikini). Being healthy is far more important than squeezing out that one extra inch. Don't do it.