This week brings the 2023 Miss Universe Pageant, generating the Yawn Heard ‘Round the World. The days of these opulent affairs are certainly waning as there is nowhere near the level of interest and impact of the national or global beauty pageants that there once was. Instead of looking to burnish the image of these fading festivities they are generating moans with hormone inclusivity. Of late, they have trended into the farcical realms as these once-esteemed bastions of femininity have been bowing to social activism and are admitting biological males.

Talk about Miss-ing the point. 

These efforts over the past decade to force males into decidedly female ranks have met with varied reactions. There is bemusement when it takes place in government and the military, anger when men are ushered into bathrooms and locker rooms, resentment when biological males dominate female athletics, and utter ridicule when men are celebrated as “Women of the Year” and other similar idiocies. It is in the last category that the beauty pageants have landed themselves, and this is leading to pronounced failure.

In recent years, we have seen news items crop up when trans individuals are celebrated in these contests meant to establish the height of womanhood – pageants for the paragon of female pulchritude. A bio-male was heralded as Miss Nevada a couple of years back. One year ago, a local Miss American contest selected a male. In 2018, “Miss” Spain broke the estrogen ceiling by becoming the first trans contestant in the Miss Universe pageant, and the openness is spreading (apologies). 

In this year’s competition, there are two bio-males – from Portugal and The Netherlands – in the field of…well, ladies, and they are indeed stealing opportunity from women. This is because, as some have suggested, there are in fact pageants established for transgender contestants. Yet there is this desire — this need — to force the activism into those arenas established expressly for females, and it is not leading to success.

Propping open the door for trans individuals to co-opt female recognition was assured when last October it was announced that the Miss Universe pageant was purchased by JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd. This is a Tawainese media company owned by a celebrity in that country, Chakrapong "Anne" Chakrajutathib, who is a transgender individual. It might be fair to say this gambit has not paid off. Literally.

JKN, which had raised money through bonds to buy Miss Universe, missed a loan repayment deadline of around $12 million that was due September 1. In its filing, the company said it planned to restructure its debt and extend the repayment period to overcome what it called a “liquidity problem.”

Understand, this failure has transpired in just about one exact year. It would appear that there is little interest in taking what has always been designed as a celebration of femininity and turning it into a sausage party. The reasoning is certainly absent.

The insistence of injecting men into these fields continues to deliver bafflement because you do not see where the benefits are derived. Products touting these cross-over figures rarely see fortunes as a result (we’re looking at you Bud Light), and sporting events accepting males are derided and see their import diminished. The audacious military push for acceptance of the trans agenda has led to plummeting enlistment totals.

Now a trans-friendly enterprise accepting trans individuals finds its revenue streams are transitory as it is going broke in rapid fashion. There might be a feeling of nobility for some in pushing these agendas, but the biting feeling of reality after the fact is something to consider as well.