The feminist arguments against female beauty pageants are that such events reinforce patriarchal standards by reducing women to their appearance. Beauty pageants, feminists say, are misogynistic. It’s hard to deny the validity of this argument when the winner of a female beauty pageant is, in fact, male.
A 22-year-old man (who identifies as a woman) has been named Miss Netherlands, giving him a shot at becoming Miss Universe in the international competition.
Interestingly, the New York Post reports that Miss Universe “first allowed trans competitors in 2012, when it was still owned by now-former President Donald Trump, who reinstated a Canadian competitor who’d been booted for not being a ‘naturally born female.’”