Allowing transgenders is fantastic, but is it fair? By Esther Ng
The New Paper
Wednesday, Aug 01, 2012
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120731-362508.html (http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120731-362508.html)
Would it be fair for a woman who was formerly a man to compete in a major beauty contest like Miss Universe Singapore?
This is neither a facetious nor a silly question - the transgender contestant would, after all, likely have the advantage of having been surgically enhanced. Indeed, how can you tell if a woman is really a woman?
Does it matter any more?
[...]
"I know that they may have taken hormones, but the genetic make-up already puts them at an advantage."
But another transgender person, a sales consultant who wanted to be known only as Audrey, 50, questioned the fuss over plastic surgery.
"Many of these beauty contestants - those real women - in other countries have had work done, so we shouldn't be so hung up about real beauty.
Nothing about beauty pageants is "fair." This argument shouldn't even exist, imo.
Here in Canada, Jenna Talackova was allowed to continue to compete in the Miss Universe beauty pageant after they tried to ban her for not being a so-called "genetic woman" (which is bull->-bleeped-<-, imo). Talackova transitioned young, so she never went through "male" puberty. If she's "cosmetic" then every woman is just as "cosmetic."
I still think beauty pageants are bull->-bleeped-<-, though ;)
Aren't they all "surgically enhanced"?
--Jay Jay