Miss Landmine Angola -- beauty contest for landmine survivors
The Miss Landmine Angola 2008 competition was created by a Norwegian artist called Morten Traavik -- it's been controversial, but has some laudable objectives:
Link (via Neatorama)THE MISS LANDMINE MANIFESTO (in no particular order)
* Female pride and empowerment.
* Disabled pride and empowerment.
* Global and local landmine awareness and information.
* Challenge inferiority and/or guilt complexes that hinder creativity- historical, cultural, social, personal, African, European.
* Question established concepts of physical perfection.
* Challenge old and ingrown concepts of cultural cooperation.
* Celebrate true beauty.
* Replace the passive term 'Victim' with the active term 'Survivor'
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why are women judged on external beauty, tits and ass, looking good in a bikini?
KQED recently aired a show about Ms Navajo Nation, where the women were tested on everything BUT their physical sex appeal.
Go figure!
I think the project really worked. One thing is the subtle attention to details, such as detailed info on the mine that brought the person to the contest, so to speak. Russia, China, Cuba, Romania, etc. - except for Russia, I didn't even know all these countries were selling weapons there ! This juts shows how big the interests are in maintaining war in general.
It also (hopefully) helps to bring the horror of war closer, by introducing the victims. Just because, you know, "One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic"
This is ingenious. I like to think of myself as someone who confronts and works against his prejudices, but this pushes buttons (that really need to be pushed). What's fantastic is that it doesn't attack anyone - it's a completely positive way of forcing people to think about important issues.
This is something which I think could be learned from in US political discourse. Right now, debates tend to get very polarised and accusatory (and the debaters consequently lose sight of the issues themselves). Subtle, positive and ideology-neutral is definitely the way to go.
Just a thought...
Love it.
I was a soldier in Afghanistan and I saw many people with missing feet/lower legs. There was even a UN relief agency for people missing limbs.
It breaks my heart to think about people wounded like this, so I try not to, except in small doses, otherwise the world seems unbearable. But I have a lot of sympathy/empathy for them, and I appreciate what the miss landmine contest is trying to accomplish. It is a visceral feeling to look at healthy young people who are innocent victims.
This is FANTASTIC!!!!!
Initially I did not know what to think of it... Then I realized how ingenious this is.
Also, regarding the "earlier bikini comment", not judging them on the typical pageant criteria would just once again show that these women are "different", not suitable for a beauty pageant, but YES they are suitable and gorgeously beautiful!!!
This project benefits so many people in so many ways.
Reading the introductions of the women is heart-warming. I am a woman myself, about their age, reading their comments esp on "dream job" was a wake-up call.
"Any job I can get" was their answer oftentimes... Yet it is so encouraging to see that despite the hardships they keep on fighting, one of them proclaiming she wants to be a boss. Noticeably she is one of the youngest and also has not borne any children yet. I hope she will gain the confidence and keep her high aspirations.
I believe such a media spotlight, the controversies, taking a Western luxury of beauty contest and setting it in this context, was absolutely necessary to a) get the attention b) let people think over the hugs discrepancies in our world, as we do get numb at times watching the news, hearing the "statistics".
Also, awarding the winner with a custom-made prothesis, does so much good, and also contrasts to the prizes that we appreciate in the West.
Despite all these personal insights, I am scared to wake up in the morning, and live my life as if nothing happened, as if I never read this article, saw the pageant website, worrying about my own, small world, really non-existent problems... forgetting the struggle and the strength these women come up with every single day.
Be a SURVIVOR, not a victim...