Posted by
Miss Cellania in
Everything Else on August 4, 2009 at 11:55 am
Morten Traavik, the artist who founded the Miss Landmine pageant in Angola (featured previously at Neatorama) also organized a similar beauty pageant in Cambodia. After expressing support for the contest, the Cambodian government has withdrawn permission.
An exhibition of photographs of the contests was due to open on Friday, with the top prize of an artificial leg for the winner of an internet vote. But over the weekend the government ordered the organisers “to stop activity immediately in order to keep the honour and dignity of handicapped Cambodians, especially women”.
Traavik has requested a meeting with authorities over the issue. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Flickr user *christopher*)
Posted by
Miss Cellania in
Everything Else on May 4, 2009 at 10:48 am
When Pooja Chopra was an infant, her father ordered her mother Neera to kill her. Instead, Neera left her home and husband with her two daughters and never looked back. The baby girl, who might have never seen her first birthday, won the Miss India World pageant last month.
“When my mum walked out on my dad, she said to him, ‘One day this girl will make me proud’. All my life I’ve wanted my mum to be proud of the decision that she chose me,” Pooja said last week.
Neera has been thrust into the limelight by her daughter’s success. She has been dubbed Mother India and has already been approached by one Bollywood director who wants to film her story.
Pooja Chopra’s father remarried and never supported his first two daughters. Chopra has become a symbol of the campaign to end the preference for boys over girls in India. Link -via Arbroath
Posted by
Miss Cellania in
Neatorama Exclusives on February 2, 2009 at 7:00 am
You know about the Miss America and Miss Universe beauty pageants. You are probably also aware of child beauty pageants, bodybuilding contests, transexual pageants, and pageants for married women. Then there are the odd beauty pageants. Last August, an Italian priest proposed an online beauty pageant for nuns. One day later, he rescinded the idea under pressure from local and religious authorities. But there are plenty of other beauty pageants that stray far from what you are used to.
Miss Klingon Empire
The
Miss Klingon Empire beauty pageant has been held annually for ten years now at the Dragon*con event in Atlanta. This image of the 2006 winner is from Flickr user
elemess. Also see a
video report of the most recent pageant.
Miss Hooker
The
Miss Hooker 2008 pageant was what you’d think -a beauty pageant for prostitutes, but there were no real prostitutes in the running, just actresses putting on a show, arraigned by artist Natalia Fabia. But what a show! The eventual winner went by the name Miss One Dolla No Holla. See more pictures
here.
Miss Plastic Surgery
A
Miss Plastic Surgery pageant was held in China in 2004. It was a one-time-only event, in which all contestants were required to have undergone some type of plastic surgery. The pageant was launched in reaction to an earlier scandal in which a contestant was
disqualified from another beauty contest because she had used cosmetic surgery.
Ms. Pregnant
You don’t have to let a little thing like pregnancy stop you from entering a beauty pageant. The
Ms. Pregnant pageant celebrates beauty with a bump. And yes, they parade in bikinis!
Miss Subways
A New York advertising agency held a pageant from 1941 to 1976 called
Miss Subways. The winner was featured in ads on trains and stations. The tradition was revived in
2004, when Caroline Sanchez-Bernat was crowned Miss Subways.
Zombie Beauty
A
Zombie Beauty Contest is held annually at the Phoenix ComiCon. This year’s pageant was just a couple of weeks ago. Heather, the winner, is pictured here. See pictures from last year’s zombie pageant at
Flickr.
Most Beautiful Bottom
The
Most Beautiful Bottom in the World contest was launched in 2007 by the underwear manufacturer sloggi. It is open to both men and women, and the winner for each category gets a modeling contract. See a video of the
2008 competition in Paris. This photo is from the
2007 contest in Munich.
Miss Landmine
Miss Landmine is a beauty pageant for women disabled by landmines and other war-related injuries held in Angola. The pageant, created by Norwegian artist
Morten Traavik, celebrates pride and empowerment over physical perfection.
Prison Pageants
In the
Miss Spring beauty pageant held in a Siberian prison near Novosibirsk, participation can mean freedom, as the parole board takes community activity into account when deciding who to release. A 2006 film,
Miss Gulag is a documentary about the Miss Spring pageant. Other prison beauty pageants include
Miss Captivity, held in a Lithuanian prison,
Miss Prisoner held in Bogota, Colombia, and
Miss Prisoner in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (image credit: Fabio Cuttica)
Miss Jumbo Queen
Thailand hosts the
Miss Jumbo Queen pageant for big beautiful women. The pageant grew out of an elephant conservation project.
The aim of the contest is to select the contestant who best exhibits the characteristics of an elephant, by virtue of her grace, elegance and size, to help promote elephant conservation causes in Thailand.
However, it appears that the last Jumbo Queen was crowned in 2005.
Harvest Festival Queens
Local harvest festivals have the funniest names for ordinary beauty pageants. Who could resist putting such gems as Miss Meat Pie, Miss Hell Hole Swamp, or Miss Worm Gruntin’ Queen on their resume? Pictured is the Gilroy Garlic Festival queen.
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