Ruminations

Blog dedicated primarily to randomly selected news items; comments reflecting personal perceptions

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Well, So What?

It's hard for a lot of people to take beauty pageants seriously. Lovely young women parading their physical attributes. Quite the spectacle. Appealing to some, but certainly not all of us. On the other hand, anytime we are confronted by youth and beauty it does something to us. We have every reason to admire the kindness of nature that bequeaths such beauty.

And it reminds us of how the ideals of beauty and the aesthetics of presence are important to all of us. Most women can only wish to aspire to having a small portion of what some women are naturally endowed with through inheritance. And, in a sense, it's a harmless enough pastime for many who flaunt what they have, and others who envy what they have not.

Transgendered Miss Universe Canada finalist, Jenna Talackova, of Vancouver.
Transgendered Miss Universe Canada finalist, Jenna Talackova, of Vancouver. Photograph by: Handout , Twitter

Just regard this photograph above. Is this not a physical manifestation of female beauty? The woman is so obviously feminine and comprised of grace and loveliness. Of course physical beauty is as beauty does. It does not necessarily reflect intelligence, common sense, wit and wisdom. Together and singly each of those attributes are worth their weight in gold. And they become enhanced with age.

Physical beauty has a habit of declining with age. At least the youthful portion of it does. However, focusing on the here-and-now, it is clear that the young woman portrayed above clearly illustrates how fortunate some have been with their genetic endowments. Ah, she was born male. But she declares that, from the age of four, she felt herself to be female. At age 14 she began hormone therapy to make that transition.

And who could deny the end result was anything but wildly successful? So what is the problem? She has been disqualified by a beauty pageant to achieve the title of Miss Universe Canada. She is not being permitted to compete. "She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form", is the statement issued by a Miss Universe Canada release.

In their rules to meet competition requirements there is no statement respecting cosmetic surgery or gender re-assignment. Contestants must be Canadian citizens between the ages of 18 and 27, single, not pregnant. They complete a comprehensive application form to be entitled to compete.

Jenna Talackova, that stunningly beautiful young woman competed in a transsexual beauty pageant in Thailand. At that time she referred to herself as "a woman, with a history". She is all of that and more.

Excluding her from the pageant was an ill-considered move. And more's the pity.

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