Battle of the crowns: Beyond beauty standards and glamour

The glamorous beauty industry, perfect skin and dainty manners – it all looks too good to be true. However, the ugly truth remains under the cover.  The cut throat competition and the immense pressure that every contestant feels take a toll on their mental state and thought process.

Every once a while there is a news floating around about shady agents, not getting paid enough, or at all, eating disorders, sexual harassment and so much more, the list of struggles goes unfathomable.

Recently, a controversy made headlines as the clip of an infamous act of ‘crown snatching’ went viral. Surprisingly, the hands that reached out to this deformity act at the Mrs. Sri Lanka beauty pageant were those of a former title holder.

Cheers and a loud round of applause filled the atmosphere with enthusiasm and spine chilling excitement from spectators in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Post awarding the title to a contestant, Caroline Jurie, the pageant’s 2019 winner and Mrs. World 2020 claimed that Pushpika De Silva was a divorcee and therefore not qualified to take part in the contest.

Was there a better way of doing this? Definitely, yes! Caroline Jurie could’ve politely announced her concern. It was indeed heartbreaking to see Silva walking away as she broke into tears.

Directly at close of the act, Caroline Jurie, held the mic — “I have a small request,” she spoke. “As for the Mrs. World Inc., there’s a rule that you’ll have to be married and not divorced. So, I’m taking my first step saying that the crown goes to the first runner-up.” Although, sources say that the contestant wasn’t divorced  but just separated.

After Jurie forcefully snatched the crown off her, she placed it on the first runner-up’s head, who thanked the judges.

Although, this is not the first time that the crown has been the talk of the town. Just a few days ago, a pageant queen treated the crown in a not so classy manner.

Miss Papua New Guinea stripped off her crown over a TikTok video which shows her dancing inappropriately. Critics of the move say that it reveals a culture of misogyny and sexism in the industry.

Thousands of critics branded the dance “inappropriate” and said that it was not fit for a role model to share such videos.

These are not the only 2  incidents that reflect misogyny. Many such events have taken place ever since the pageants have become a regular competition women take part in. Let’s hope for a time when such events would show how real queens fix each other’s crowns.