Miss Belgium
I don’t quite understand the world’s fascination with beauty pageants – parading human beings around like property. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon the intro to Miss Universe 2009 on Sunday night. After a glance of Zeynep Sever, Miss Belgium and was curious to see who was representing the various other European nations present. Zeynep is originally from Turkey. She and her mother moved to Belgium when she was 12. After winning the title, she quickly found herself in the middle of a charged racial debate over whether a non-Belgian (read, not white) should be allowed to win the crown and represent Belgium at the Miss Universe or Miss World competitions. Because…well, we all know all Belgians have blond hair, blue eyes and are white, right?
Miss Switzerland
This same debate was playing itself out in other European countries. I discussed the controversy in several blog posts when Whitney Toyloy was crowned Miss Switzerland last fall. Many protestors argued that she could not adequately represent Switzerland, because she wasn’t actually Swiss. (Age was another lesser factor compared to her ethnic makeup.) She is of American, Chinese, Panamanian and Swiss heritage. Some even called for pageant officials to rename the competition “Miss Multiculti” to more ‘accurately’ reflect who was wearing the crown. This rests on the assumption that to be Swiss is the white, a narrow and highly inaccurate reflection of the actual demographics of the Swiss population.
In the same month, Avalon-Chanel Weyzig, who is half Indonesian, won the Miss Netherlands competition. She received far less brumtata about her win. The fodder took on a different dimension. A great deal of it focused on how exotic she is, that being ethnic gives her a particular edge over other contestants. One reporter went so far as to say that her look catapulted her within the top five likely contenders to win the crown. The response? Avalon received an increase in hits on a pageant betting site.
Miss Netherlands
Fast forward to December 2009 – Chloe Mortaud is crowned Miss France. She is French and African American, Creole in fact. France has crowned several black and mixed women over the last 10 years or so. Yet, there was still debate around her win. Prior winners from former French colonies. The rucus surrounding the current Miss France stems from her American roots. Race seems to be somewhat secondary, although there several off colored racial remarks posted to various list servs.
Miss France
All of this intrigues me. I am most intrigued by the comments left on various blogs and sites that announced these contest winners. Many comments are blatantly racist and xenophobic. “Why are foreigners representing [fill in the blank].” “The contest should be renamed Miss Multikulti” “Foreigners are taking over. We will be a Muslim country before you know it.” “I am not being racist….just protecting my culture.” ….and so forth!
So, is the fact that more European countries are awarding their highest pageant titles to mixedchicks a sign of a shift in the tide? Or, is it just another way in which white Europeans are choosing to eroticize women of color?
hey k, i’ve wanted to comment on this post for a while, but time kept getting away from me. i’m at home now in ny waiting for my spanish work visa to come thru, so i got nothing but time…
anyway, i lived in belgium in 2007 before moving to spain. the flemish/dutch part. i was at the miss belgium 2008 proceedings in brussels, which was funny: for the first time ever, 2 black girls… TWO made it to the top 5. not mixed girls (not that there’s anything wrong with that
)
…but black girls, one light skinned, one dark skinned. both tall, gorgeous, and articulate.
now, when i was in belgium, they’d gone about 9 months without a joint government, the flemish side and the french side. they couldn’t agree on anything; the vitriol spewed on primetime talk shows was 100 times worse than what we see here in america between liberals and conservatives. it was unbelievable. talk of french secession was at an all time high.
so here were these 2 black girls, a blonde, and 2 brunettes vying for miss belgium in the midst of a HUGE national identity crisis. and everyone in the building looking at me like, ‘are those your sisters?’ when it came time for q&a, the atmosphere was even more charged. the broadcast was in flemish. belgium’s french citizens are notorious for dismissing the flemish language and just not learning it. flems are, by and large, trilingual. the q&a isn’t only about your answer, but the language in which you do it. how’s it possible for you to rep the whole country, when you don’t even speak the language of the majority??
so the brunettes approach the mic, both understand flemish, but only one answers in fluent flemish. the other needs a translator in order to answer. the two black girls (both!) are fully bilingual and rock the questions in flemish, even though they both live in the french part.
the blonde understands no flemish. she speaks no flemish. the blonde wins.
i’m still not over it. even though this ‘exotic’ girl is definitely a start.