00:00 Outlook brings to you excerpts from the latest issue titled 'Flawless'.
00:04 Commemorating the International Women's Day, the issue looks at challenges women face,
00:10 from gendered ageism to unrealistic beauty standards.
00:14 A political pageant by Abhig Bhattacharya and Agnideb Bandopadhyay from Outlook.
00:20 Criteria to determine beauty have been challenged by feminists across the world,
00:26 but some feel it can be liberating.
00:28 In 2019, after the photos of 30 finalists of the Femina Miss India pageant came out in public,
00:36 a massive social media backlash ensued, accusing the contest of being racist.
00:41 When the photos of these women, mostly with similar haircuts and fair skin,
00:46 found space in one of the leading national newspapers with the headline,
00:51 'Who will be crowned Miss India this year?'
00:53 Twitter went abuzz with a cry against such typecasting.
00:57 One of the users shared the photo and wrote,
01:00 'Why can't a Miss India be a dusky or a dark brown or darker chocolate brown?
01:05 So much for the love of fair skin. I believe we are the most racist country in the world.'
01:10 Notably, this was the same beauty pageant that crowned Priyanka Chopra the title of Miss India.
01:17 Anti-colour activist, Moona Beti, while talking to the news agency Reuters said,
01:23 'You have youngsters, kids watching this and thinking to themselves, if I don't fit these criteria or this skin tone,
01:30 then I'm not beautiful and I'm not good enough.'
01:35 Though these protests were confined within the walls of social media in 2019,
01:40 the History of Beauty contest and the women's movement suggest that since the 1960s,
01:46 it has always been a matter of concern for the feminists who have been trying to fight the essentiality of beauty
01:54 and its determination through the male gaze.
01:57 The Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth contests,
02:01 better known as the Big Four of beauty pageants that have been around since 1951,
02:07 have seen an evolution of the stipulations, regulations and the platform through the decades.
02:14 For this and more, read the latest issue of Outlook.
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