Should Beach Beauty be brought back in Miss World? [Opinion]
So the rumour mill says that Beach Beauty contest will be back in Miss World 2016. Of course, there are really good chances that this is just a rumour because Miss World in recent years has shown a lot of determination to change the way they are perceived as a pageant and one of their bold moves in that direction was to scrap the swimsuit round. While we admire the bold nature of the pageant in terms of how they evolve confidently and also the values they wish to affirm, we do feel it can be a good idea to bring back Beach Beauty contest in some or the other form.
Fitness is definitely an important thing and to promote it, is also good. Miss World winner will get more opportunities in terms of modelling jobs if she is in great shape. A really good number of countries accept the swimsuit competition. Nowadays the contestants from countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. also comfortably participate in swimsuit rounds. In Miss World 2015, there was no swimsuit round, but we did see Mireia Lalaguna doing swimwear modelling during her reign itself and she looked fabulous. What if the eventual winner of Miss World title does not have a great body and ends up doing swimwear modelling? Won’t it harm the image of the pageant? Pageant winners are always expected to be highly fit.
Image Source: Miss Universe
We do agree that some cultures don’t accept the swimsuit competition and they should not be forced into it. Some countries may withdraw from Miss World because of this round. In that case, the swimsuit round aka Beach Beauty can be kept as a private event, like it was done in Miss World 2014 (they called it Beach Fashion that year). Only the girls themselves should be allowed to share their personal pictures from the round on the internet, if they are comfortable and willing to do it. They can also allow girls, the ones not comfortable to wear two-piece bikinis, to wear one-piece bikinis, athletic wears or conservative (in terms of design) beach-wears.
Thus, we feel Beach Beauty contest should be there in Miss World in some or the other forms. It is good to find common ground rather than totally scrapping off the event.