Transgender Recognition by the Miss Universe Organization
Jenna Talackova has made an incredible contribution to the running history of the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant by marking the opening of its elusive doors to transgenders from all around the globe. Noted for its incomparable record for celebrating the beauty and grandeur of women, the Miss Universe Organization has made it clear that it is one with the world in fighting for gender equality.
But, are they really?
There is No Discrimination, Rather the Undeniable Reality
For the many years of our existence, we have developed varying cultures, embraced new practices, raised new beliefs, and adopted lifestyles that were mummed and deliberately discriminated once upon a time. It was an expected response faced with things and circumstances that we did not yet understand then.
Transgenders today are now continuously gaining rights and privileges; they have now been accepted by the very society that once discriminated them. They are after all, valuable additions with great contributions to our society – a mark of our times.
That said; let us not forget the value of our women – their undeniable femininity bursting from their hearts, shining from within their female spirits. There is a reason we are born men and women. We have already acknowledged with respect that the in-betweens be accepted; even loved. But to pit them against our women; to have them share the spotlight with our women in a celebration of our women’s beauty and unique importance is to cross the boundaries even they have set out to build.
Gender Equality in the Real Sense of the Word
Equality has become a big word these days where men, women, and transgenders alike fight for equality in terms of favors, recognition, and opportunities.
For equality to be unscathed by the imprints of a terribly showbiz and stereotyped world – an over-advertised sub-reality (this is everyone’s idea of how equality should be) – the parties involved must realize and wholeheartedly accept that equality can only blossom if we acknowledge the differences paved in all of us well before our time. That it can only grow if we allow for the proper space to be given to whom it should be given when it should be given and how.
Gender equality can only be true to its meaning if we understand and accept that women and transgender women should be upheld in their own limelight, on their own stage, and that both do not belong in the same space.
Miss Universe: A Venue to Discover and Celebrate Womanhood, Not Transgender-hood
The Miss Universe pageants paved the way for hundreds of our women to be introduced into the world as queens and princesses; adored and admired by many; inspiring dreams and delivering hope with a simple wave and a dazzling smile; gaining trust and loyalty with a sincere and straightforward answer; making hearts skip and imaginations run wild with an elegant twist in a sparkling gown; challenging people regardless of gender, culture, and belief to stand for something – to believe in beauty, sincerity; in the richness of our species and in the magic of our lives.
To dull such genius celebrations as the Miss Universe and the like by blurring and erasing set boundaries that define their very existence as a venue for the discovery of a deeper truth in our women is disheartening. To liken our natural-born women to transgender people is hard proof that beliefs and rights are no longer for the truth of everyone but the pleasure and whim of some.
Transgender(s) in the Miss Universe
Let us not turn our backs on the truth; of the unique value of our women and the unique treasures of our transgenders. They may exist in one world, fighting for one cause, but to face each other for the sake of one crown in a single pageant is an explosive interlude that will (if not already) confuse and decay their respective importance.
