http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13566006&f...
Excerpt:
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Sukaina al-Zayer is an unlikely beauty queen hopeful. She covers her face and body in black robes and an Islamic veil, so no one can tell what she looks like. She also admits she's a little on the plump side.
But at Saudi Arabia's only beauty pageant, the judges don't care about a perfect figure or face. What they're looking for in the quest for "Miss Beautiful Morals" is the contestant who shows the most devotion and respect for her parents.
"The idea of the pageant is to measure the contestants' commitment to Islamic morals... It's an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman's body and looks," said pageant founder Khadra al-Mubarak.
"The winner won't necessarily be pretty," she added. "We care about the beauty of the soul and the morals."
So after the pageant opens Saturday, the nearly 200 contestants will spend the next 10 weeks attending classes and being quizzed on themes including "Discovering your inner strength," "The making of leaders" and "Mom, paradise is at your feet" — a saying attributed to Islam's Prophet Muhammad to underline that respect for parents is among the faith's most important tenets.
Pageant hopefuls will also spend a day at a country house with their mothers, where they will be observed by female judges and graded on how they interact with their mothers, al-Mubarak said. Since the pageant is not televised and no men are involved, contestants can take off the veils and black figure-hiding abayas they always wear in public.
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OMG they are so ridiculous.
This was covered by one of the plethora of risible, sub-literate and often violently bigoted UK Muslim fora.
Comments included the near obligatory "mashallahs" from the simpering Disney musliminah contingent and sturdy remarks about women's place being in the kitchen from all the usual male suspects...
Necessarily "da bruvvers" all wearing trousers cut above the ankle and breeding man-beards - and you just know the sisters have got pale pink hijabs... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Just so you grasp the state of play across the Pond... sad, really.
Well just so ya know the state of Islam in my little country and city --- NYC, USA, I was listening to a kutbah last night (online) from a masjid here in town where the "imam" was outlining how if a woman has a face that no man would want, she should cover her face, or better yet, just stay in her home. He went on to say men have preferenes and woman needs to consider those preferences. You could hear the warm compassion in his voice, almost suggesting that he was enlightened not to suggest killing such women, but allowing them to live with their faces covered in their homes. What I did not understand was if it was okay to walk around with your face uncovered if you were a beauty, but not if you were unattractive, and if somehow this was the meaning of hijab, just removing unattractive females from the visual pool. It was weird. And you could just hear the hushed silence from the no doubt massive crowd, of men. And no doubt their women were at home chanting "mashallah." And people wonder why I am a lone wolf.
Spread the objectification around a bit, and it works for me- just include a bake-off for the guys, or maybe a knitting competition. Guys who knit are hawt.
Quite right. Very funny comment, thanks.
Hahahahaha.
Not a mask, a burqa. You can see their shape, son.
Berbers are pleasantly pagan in their adab (and some in their diin), so I don't think they'll count in the contest.
It's a tall order to surpass America's Religious Right in stupidity and obnoxiousness, but somehow Islam's imams and mullahs are able to pull it off.
Berbers are pleasantly pagan in their adab (and some in their diin), so I don't think they'll count in the contest.>>>
Oh, but I thought all one needed to do to perfect their Islam was to have their face veiled??? Hmmm .... geee ....but I keep hearing that being said referred to us she-folk.
Why are there never men’s pageants? I’d like to see a ‘best husband contest’, based on devotion, looks, cooking skills, knowledge of female anatomy, sense of humor and charm>>>
Because ....
1) Women are given a long laundry list of virtues and characteristics that must be completed in order to be a "real woman" and in order to satisfy the requirements of men who, as you say, judge them like they were at a cattle uaction.
2) Men must only fulfill one requirement in order to be complete and perfect: Be born male.
3) Many men, traditionally throughout the entire world, don't really care what women think.
How many times have you seen unsavory toad men demanding triple A-list babes, and getting them, even if they aren't rich? I don't know if it is a biological mandate in women's psyches, or profoundly effective conditioning, but many women are distraught and feel incomplete and unworthy, unvalidated, if they don't have a man. Is it any wonder that men themselves would raise he bar of competition to ensure the highest possible standards be sought and often achieved by women who must compete with each other, the enemy, for the company of thse men. There was an interesting article a couple of weeks ago in the NY Times about what people are cutting out in the downtimes. One woman said, and this is almost a quote ..... If I have to cut out frills for my kids, so be it. I will not cut out my own botox treatments because my life is my face and how I survive in this world depends on how young that face looks. To whatever degree people feel internally compelled to comply with social demands in order to ensure inclusion ..... they reap the benefits, such as they are.
"How many times have you seen unsavory toad men demanding triple A-list babes, and getting them, even if they aren't rich? I don't know if it is a biological mandate in women's psyches, or profoundly effective conditioning, but many women are distraught and feel incomplete and unworthy, unvalidated, if they don't have a man."
I believe it's called patriarchy, Karen. Sorry I had to delete the spam, but you may get a kick out of this:
http://www.findingmygoddess.com/