Miss (Mr.) Universe

     Surpise! Surprise! The highly coveted Miss Universe beauty pageant is now accepting candidates who were born male to represent their respective countries in this world wide search and have that once in a lifetime chance to be crowned as the most beautiful woman in the world!  There. Were you as surprised as I was? I hope so.

     When and how did this happen? Well, it all started when Jenna Talackova, Miss (Mr.) Canada, was finally allowed to compete for her country's spot in the search for Miss Universe for the current year. Talackova was previously disqualified to take part in the competition after it was found out that she was actually born a male but had undergone surgery to become a female.  According to the Canadian model, she decided to have the sex-change because she was born in "the wrong body".

      I have nothing against gays or bi-sexuals or transgenders. In fact, some of the nicest and coolest people I know happen to be gays. They are talented, caring and generous both with their time and talents.  They are good friends and reliable confidants. I respect them and their sexual preference and wish for them nothing but happines and yes, fair treatment and equality, among other things. However, I find it a bit queer (pardon the pun) that  someone who was born in this world a male (with the male anatomy of course), would be entering a beauty contest, which was specifically designed to search for the fairest, most beautiful woman in the universe (possessing all those womanly attributes, of course).  It is like being a commercial model for a hair shampoo when your hair is not your own but a mere transplant, or modelling for a toothpaste advertisement when you have false teeth, and yes, parading in your swimsuit when the body parts you are actually displaying happen to be... implants?

     "Equal Opportunity" for all  does exist. But the line has to be drawn somewhere somehow. Maybe transgender people could have their own world wide beauty pageant wherein all the beauty hopefuls would be on equal footing; none of them would have to be disqualified for what they are nor questioned for what they are not, but each and every contestant would be allowed to shine without the unnecessary controversy. Or perhaps, sex-change women could start a new beauty search that would promote awareness and their full acceptance to society. Whatever they choose to have, it should be without pretense or cover-ups and more importantly, it would tell the whole world their capabilities and  highlight their contribution and significance to humanity.

     Oh, I can't wait for this year's Miss Universe!  May the best (fe)male...uhmm... contestant win  :-)

photo credit: http://twitter.com/#!/JennaTalackova