beyond the stage
Pageants are valued so highly in Filipino culture that they are held in every local city, for different kinds of people and for various occasions. Every Barrio Fiesta, in which Phillipine neighborhoods celebrate their patron saints, has one of these competitions. Young girls are often encouraged to participate by parents and older relatives.
Natashya Gutierrez, a journalist for the Philippine news network Rappler, traces the Filipino devotion to beauty pageants back to the legacy of Spanish colonialism in an article titled “The Philippines’ Beauty Pageant Obsession: Who Benefits?” Filipino fixation with beauty pageants continued to grow with the country’s first major win in 1969, when Gloria Diaz won Miss Universe. Since then, pageants have become a great source of pride in the
22 | fall 2019
Today, many feminists oppose beauty pageants, claiming that they have no place in the 21st century because they objectify women and promote harmful and unrealistic beauty standards. Even in the Philippines, pageants have their controversies. For one, it is rare for a full Filipino to make it far in pageants in the Philippines. Pageant frontrunners are typically tall, skinny and lighter-skinned. They also often have mixed ethnic and national heritages. In the past, winners have had American, European or Australian ancestry. For example, the two most recent Miss Universe winners representing the Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray, are half German and half Australian, respectively. Silvia Celeste Cortesi, crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2018, faced heavy criticism for not being “Filipino enough.” Cortesi is half Italian, born and raised in Italy, and does not speak Tagalog or any other tongue native to the Philippines. The lack of significance placed on cultural heritage coupled with the immense focus placed upon physical appearance in Filipino pageants makes critics question how authentic Filipino representation is in these pageants. Pageants: Are they good or bad? Now a second-year student at UF, Kristina Biglete never imagined she would don a pageant crown. Growing up, when her friends and family would encourage her to participate in pageants, she would always shy away from the idea
because she didn’t think that they were for her. Although Biglete was peer pressured into her first pageant, she chose to participate in her second one, the Miss Fil-Am pageant, because of its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, a Phillippine movement that aims to end poverty by 2024. Biglete’s experience with Miss Fil-Am was a rewarding one. At the pageant, she shared the stage with the women who won before her. They were the same women who competed in the pageants Biglete watched while growing up. They inspired her. Biglete’s Miss Fil-Am crowning moment means the world to her because she has seen what previous winners were able to do with their title. Although the Fil-Am pageant was still a competition, Biglete befriended other contestants and found the experience empowering, as much of it revolved around showcasing the talents of others. But as pure as Biglete’s narrative was, controversy still surrounds pageants. While the contests do certainly open up opportunities, they often only do so for the few who meet current beauty standards or other exclusive criteria. When competing in Fiesta mo sa, UF senior Angelique Howard remembers overhearing rude comments about
design by rachalle way
Pageants, especially international ones, garner significant amounts of attention from the Filipino community. When women representing the Philippines win these pageants, the country — composed of countless islands and home to various languages and cultures — is united under a strong sense of national pride.
country.
photography by kylee gates
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eauty pageants have a rich culture in the Philippines. Dubbed the “pageant capital” of the world, the Philippines is home to a countless number of pageants and international pageant winners.
by vanessa celino
A deeper look at pageants and their intersection of Filipino culture and feminism
