Post Miss Earth 2008 Thoughts

Article by Rafael Delfin
of Critical Beauty Journal

Karla Henry's coronation as Miss Earth 2008 last week generated a lot of cybernet discussion among pageant fans - some perplexed how Henry beat the "more beautiful" contestants from Tanzania, Spain, Romania, or other favorites for the crown. I created a poll entitled, "Did they crown the right girl?" to get a consensus from our dear readers; so far, most of you think that Henry deserved the crown; still, many of you believe that the judges crowned the wrong girl, or that Henry is "ugly" or the "ugliest Miss Earth" ever. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.


Henry's victory is comparable to Miss Botswana Mpule Kwelagobe's crowning as Miss Universe 1999 when she defeated a "more beautiful" Miss Philippines Miriam Quiambao. To this day, Filipino and non-Filipino pageant fans are still wondering how Kwelagobe - perhaps considered as the least attractive Miss Universe of all time - won over a more alluring and more charming Quiambao. Many say that it was Kwelagobe's quick and succinct response to the final question that secured her the crown, compared to Quiambao's rather cautious and vague response. It's safe to assume that the majority of the judges in Miss Universe 1999 had put more weight on the Q & A portion than on the physical one - which was obviously the case in the selection of Miss Earth 2008. Kwelagobe was not my favorite, but when I met her in person and chatted with her, I was blown away by her eloquence. Did I change my mind after having met her? Not really. But I accepted the idea that she won because the judges felt that she would be the ideal spokesperson for MUO's causes. So why would Karla Henry be any different? And to say that she's the worst Miss Earth ever is stupid, because her reign has just begun. Perhaps this well-written article will make you change your opinion of her.


I hate it when people say, "This is supposed to be a beauty pageant. She is not the most beautiful! Miss Tanzania was robbed!" Sorry to burst your bubble, but Miss Tanzania's thighs are wider than an elephant's trunk, she talks funny, and she demonstrated the most laughable poses during the evening gown presentation. Nevertheless, the judges thought that she was beautiful enough to advance to the finals, but if I had had my way, I would not have even included her in the top 16.


Then you have people saying that internal beauty is not important in a beauty pageant, and that beauty pageants should focus primarily on physical beauty. This is pure hogwash. If you're the director, organizer or president of a beauty pageant, do you really want to work with a young woman who is physically gorgeous but obnoxious and arrogant? Why do you think the girls are closely monitored and why are there chaperones who report back to their supervisor who reports back to the organizers? Don't be naive. Surely, physical beauty is great, but if you start pissing off the staff and the sponsors with your hoity-toity attitude, then you can just say goodbye to your Mikimoto.


I also have an issue with people who base their idea of female beauty strictly on Western standard (tall, light skin, round eyes, long limbs, hour-glass figure, long and big hair, busty & bootie-licious, and cosmetically enhanced). If all international beauty pageants used this standard, then there would be no point in producing more pageants because the winners would all look the same. Miss Universe is Miss Universe. Miss World is Miss World. Miss International is Miss International. And Miss Earth is Miss Earth. Four different pageants. Four different objectives. Different contestants. Different judges. Different criteria. So who are we to say that Henry's victory was surprising or shocking? We weren't there, and we weren't the judges, so let's leave it at that and move on.