Tuesday, February 9, 2010

my womanless pageant

pag100209 Back in December, there was an advertisement on the Internet seeking contestants for a womanless beauty pageant in nearby Massachusetts. I answered the ad expressing my interest in being a contestant, exchanged a few e-mails about it, then heard nothing more as the plans for the event fell apart.

I was disappointed. That was the closest I ever got to being in a womanless pageant and I am not likely to get such an opportunity again (unless I move South) because womanless beauty pageants are very rare events in the Northeast.

I remember when I encountered my first womanless pageant. I was well into my second decade of girlhood and that encounter occurred in 1979 watching an episode of Real People, which featured a pageant held somewhere that I don't recall. I do recall that most of the contestants acted more like the rear ends of horses than ladies.

However, I noticed that one contestant in particular was shy and demure. She was pretty, too, and in my opinion, should have won the pageant, but I believe one of the rear ends won instead. She was not one of the good old boys wearing a dress and making a mockery of womanhood. Rather, in my heart I knew she was like me, that is, gender diverse.

Whenever I look at the photos of womanless pageants, there usually is one or two contestant that strikes me as also being gender diverse. There is a certain look in their expressions, especially in their eyes, that indicates that they are living their dream for a few hours and that the pageant is probably not their first and certainly not their last encounter with their feminine side.

It would be so lovely to be in a womanless pageant, but I guess I will have to continue to participate vicariously.

4 comments:

  1. These posts are great! And I'm sure you would be a perfect contestant in any Womanless Beauty Pagent. I don't remember if you covered the Miss'd America Pagent in Atlantic City recently but here's a link,

    http://www.atlanticcitynj.com/missd-america.aspx

    Thanks as always,

    Gina Vizavi

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  2. Lady Staci,

    Sometimes great things happen when you least expect it, keep your hopes & figure up.

    You are looking fantastic and could walk with the crown if you want.

    As for the working ends of horses, they are everywhere! Lady Erin P. best describes them as woman haters. I have dropped several posts about my personal experiences with these "GUYS".

    In the words of WAYNE "PARTY ON":)

    You Look Great<

    Nikki

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  3. Dear Staci-Lana

    Once again, a great, resonant concept introduced here. "Gender Diverse". I love it. It describes much.

    It seems to me that we in minority places on the gender continuum pit opposite sides against themselves, and battle for a winner to emerge. I think that, perhaps, and at least for me, the better path is to find the characteristics that express the Gender Diverse persons best facets, from both ends, most beautifully.

    I think when we do that, we do glow, whether we are in a pageant or not.

    Here is to more of those moments. You gave me one today. Thanks!

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  4. I have always wondered how things like the womanless pageant or various cross dressing themes in movies and theatre have insinuated themselves seemingly under the radar. Despite what I would have guessed was a very hostile environment to those of us who are "gender diverse" this pageant thing seems institutionalized in the very organizations that seem most vocally opposed to non-hetero-normative behaviour.

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