SINGAPORE: Beauty pageants don’t seem to be taken very seriously by many Singaporeans, where contestants are often mocked online. Recently, the mockery has cut both ways, with male contestants being just as poked fun at as females.
Case in point: when the 2024 finalists for the modelling competition Manhunt Singapore were revealed in a recent MustShare article, Reddit users did not hold back.
Manhunt S’pore 2024 unveils finalists, contestants include lawyer, gym owner & music DJ
byu/DrCalFun insingapore
“What is this joke sia? Where is the unseen button?” wrote one. “What happened to standards?” asked another. “So this is the year I should have joined Manhunt and have a good shot at winning,” quipped another Reddit user.
When the finalists of the Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant were also recently revealed, netizens were also less than kind.
One commenter said the women “all look like coffee shop aunty.”
A YouTube commenter asked, “Are these the best Singapore can offer ?? We should pursue things that we do well, obviously, we are not in beauty and sports talents.”
Others seemed to think that the finalists’ video was some parody, in other words, not to be taken seriously. “So… where are the finalists? This seems to be a video of random women… Is this a prank video?” asked one.
A commenter called the finalists an “embarrassment” and said that while other Southeast Asian countries are “already upgrading their beauty standards,” Singapore is not.
“We have beautiful girls here in SG … trust me even we Singaporeans will support the girls from other countries to win,” they added. One Reddit user bluntly wrote, “All I can say is it’s a beauty pageant yet none of them is a beauty.”
This unkindness toward pageant contestants spawned another Reddit thread where the post author asked, “Why every year we are so mean to SG Miss Universe contestants?”
They argued that the contestants look better than many others and wondered if “simply mean jealousy” causes people to be critical of their looks. Others disagreed, however, arguing that beauty contests should have certain beauty standards.
“If you’re joining a beauty pageant, then their appearance is up to be criticized,” a Reddit user wrote.
However, it can also be said that, like other criticism online, those who mock pageant contestants for their looks allow themselves to be unfiltered to the point of meanness, knowing that their anonymity makes them somehow safe from blowback.
Still, they fail to realize the extent of damage that they inflict on the candidates. Unfortunately, it also adds to general negativity and unkindness in online spaces. /TISG