Miss South Africa 2014, Top 12 finalists.
Updated on 20 January 2015:
I made this post during Miss South Africa last year and with
it's return for 2015 decided that I need to re-post it because I feel the exact same way about things as I did then.
In fact, I've decided that I'm going to republish it every year until they change the name!
The post as it was in 2014 ...
When this year's
The Road to Miss South Africa first started on Mzansi Magic I said that I don't think that the pageant's sexist nor dated. If you missed the story, here it is:
Why Miss SA isn't sexist nor dated.
I still believe this. I don't regard any of the activities that they do nor the set-up of the pageant as either sexist nor dated. The bikinis, the strutting, all that stuff - I'm totally cool with it.
BUT, I've realised that I do have a huge problem with the fact that Miss South Africa can't be married or engaged.
It really struck me after I chatted to Ty Keogh about his
engagement to Nicole Flint. If they'd met before she became Miss South Africa she wouldn't have been allowed to be engaged or married. Which is very wrong - and, to my mind, this is sexist.
For starters it suggests that there's something wrong with married chikitas, that they're past their "sell-by date" and are no longer "good enough" to be Miss South Africa.
It also conveys a negative connotation about men, that it's a problem if they're involved with Miss South Africa in any sort of serious way. If someone has a boyfriend when they enter Miss South Africa it doesn't count against them but engagements, a marriage or a divorce are strictly against the rules.
Another awful aspect
is how the pageant contrasts with the Mrs South Africa competition and how little attention
Mrs SA receives in contrast to Miss SA. The impression Mrs South Africa conveys is patronising and archaic, as if the subtext of the pageant is: "Shame, let's give married women a chance but we'll treat them differently because they're frumpy."
As a result of all this I've decided that I definitely believe that Miss South Africa's focus on marital status is very wrong and that it shouldn't be allowed to be a factor or a rule.
I also believe that the title needs to change name to Ms South Africa. Enough of Miss and Mrs - both labels suck!! Men only have Mr, we need to only have Ms.
A shoutout to the Miss South Africa organisers ... come on, be revolutionary, burn some bra's and change the pageant to
Ms South Africa!