It’s the season of celebrations, and there are preparations everywhere. In this case, Foundation University is preparing for it’s annual Kasadya-an festival, which of course includes the selection and crowning of a hara, or “queen”. This girl is one of the hara candidates, in a studio photo shoot.
In modern PC form, these events are “pageants”, devised by sane adults, and are sober and circumspect: the candidates are selected to compete with their accomplishments, intelligence, attitudes, etc. It’s nice if they’re nice to look at, but that’s not the point.
In traditional form, however, these are “beauty contests”- teenage girls are selected as candidates based primarily on their sex appeal, with other qualities in second place. They are then descended upon by “trainers” who plaster them with white makeup and dress them in outlandish costumes- until they resemble flowers and fruits instead of human beings.
Finally the event itself begins, with a third-rate Las Vegas dance routine for all the candidates together. Then, individually, they display themselves in their various costumes, to polite applause and murmured comments.
At last, in the “swimwear portion”, they shed their costumes altogether, and parade with frozen smiles before the young crowd, as nearly as possible naked, to wild applause.
Of course there is also a pro forma “question and answer portion” during which a half-naked girl (dressed as a pineapple) assures her solemn judges that, if she wins, she will use her position “to defend the honor of my country and promote world peace.”
There’s no question that all this is tasteless and absurd. The modern, sane form of “pageant” makes more sense, and is much more likely to provide better role models. Even so, the traditional “beauty contest” style is certainly more popular with kids. Adults can devise proper entertainment for teenagers- but teenagers are not adults.
They are only children, children who have discovered sex- and that horrendous combination of childhood and desire will dominate their lives for years. The traditional beauty contest is just an kid’s game, with sex added. From an adult point of view it may be tacky and tasteless, but it reflects who these teenagers really are.
Adults, who have forgotten their own pasts, urge these kids to consider their futures.
The children don’t understand, and only say:
On the wall it says What to Do to Survive
But we were not born to survive-
Only to live
