Miss Peru Beauty Pageant Contestants Stand Against Femicide at a Time When We Need It Most

One of the most controversial showcases of women’s allure and femininity is the beauty pageant. Every year around the world, women choose to stand in front of an audience to be judged based mostly on their looks—a practice that has been called sexist and archaic by many. This year, though, the contestants of the annual Miss Peru show decided to use their time in the spotlight to speak out about violence against women in their home country.

According to Buzzfeed, the beauty pageant contestants took the time to read some very important statistics about the violence against women in Peru or the specific city they came from. Apparently, one of the common practices during the annual contest is that these women have to read out their body measurements. Yes, it’s not humiliating enough to stand in front of an audience in your bikini but you also have to tell people exactly what the size of your bust, waist and hips are. But setting aside the mere thought of this particularly revolting practice, the genius women of Miss Peru 2018 decided to instead give out facts about women’s rights.

In Peru and all across Latin America, women are getting killed in alarming numbers—which is why this stance against femicide is more important than ever. According to the Buzzfeed article, the Miss Peru 2018 show also displayed newspaper clippings of prominent cases of murdered and assaulted women and, for the final segment, the contestants were asked what laws they would change in order to combat the murders of women because of their gender.

Beyond Peru, the #NiUnaMenos movement has been drawing attention to end gender violence in Argentina and beyond. However, even that may be stalling after one of its leading voices is dead at the hands of a man, according to another report by Buzzfeed. With a woman being killed simply for being a woman every 30 hours in Argentina, the problem spans across the continent.

That’s why it is so impressive that the Miss Peru 2018 beauty pageant took the time to draw attention to this very important issue and, thankfully, the reactions have been positive. Twitter in particular lit up with women and men clapping over what the contestants did to talk about femicide and violence against women. Here’s hoping that this effort draws even more attention to the issue and #NiUnaMenos continues to grow.

https://twitter.com/itmesher/status/925581668747841546

We’re right there with you, girl.

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No fan of beauty pageants but Peru contestants giving femicide statistics instead of body measurements is awesome https://t.co/jRtfrgra4L

— Christina Ewig @christina.ewig Threads (@cewig) October 31, 2017

Awesome, YES!

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Fuck yes to Miss Peru 2018 contestants, instead of body measurements they gave stats about women's issues pic.twitter.com/ZXJVwjrZK9

— Alex Covelli (@ChivesCovelli) November 1, 2017

Seriously, can this be protocol moving forward until femicide is no longer an issue we need to address?!

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Miss Peru 2018 contestants and producers used the stage to shine a light on violence against women and girls in that country. Maybe Miss USA and Miss America should do the same. #FinalMissPerúhttps://t.co/orXb5iwdV6

— Wise Latinas Linked (@wiselatinaslink) October 31, 2017

We think they should, too!

You can watch the full telecast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-g14_MSWbw

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