The Miss International Queen Pageant STILL Has An Anti-Blackness Problem

"I said this on the MIQ FB page and I will repeat it   If the Miss International Queen Pageant is going to claim it's an international trans pageant and wants to have ANY international credibility in the trans pageant world as a fair pageant, from this point forward it is imperative that an international panel of judges be assembled to determine the winner and make sure that any Thai judges that are part of the panel have no ties to Tiffany's show or are severely limited."-TransGriot, November 4, 2011 


Another edition of the Miss International Queen Pageant has kicked off in the Thai resort city of Pattaya and I predict that when the pageant has concluded on March 9 Thai time, a trans girl with dark skin will NOT be the winner of it.

Since the pageant started in 2004. no trans woman with African heritage or dark skin has won this pageant. 

The few times this has come close to happening or an African descended trans women has even placed in the MIQ event top three was in 2010, when the USA's Stasha Sanchez finished as the second runner up, 2011 when Miss SaHHara repping Nigeria finished as the first runner up (and should have won it), and in 2015 when Brazil's Valesca Dominik Ferraz also finished as a first runner up.

The 2011 MIQ pageant was the most controversial one.   Miss SaHHara, representing Nigeria, was presumed by many people, especially after the Thai finalist horribly botched her final interview to be the person that would finally make that history. 

But people in Thailand watching on live TV, in the Tiffany's Theater in Pattaya and around the world on the online feed were shocked when the Thai contestant still won despite blowing the interview. 

That ignited a firestorm of criticism and gave credibility to the allegations brought by Thai and Philippine contestants there was not only an anti-Black bias from the all-Thai judging panel, but an anti-Filipina one as well..

In 2015 Brazilian beauty Valesca Dominik Ferraz almost broke the color line in this pageant, but just as Miss SaHHara had done four years earlier, she wound up as the first runner up to Trixie Maristela of the Philippines. 

What I wrote back in 2011 when I blasted the Miss International Queen pageant about that shady 2011 result is sadly still valid today.   Out of the 12 winners of the Miss International Queen title, eight of them have been from Asia,  and four of the eight Asian winners have been Thai. 

Also to add another things that make you go hmm layer to this, all four Thai winner have worked as Tiffany's cabaret showgirls.   Tiffany's BTW, is one of the sponsors of this pageant. 

The other Asian MIQ winners have been from Japan, South Korea and two from the Philippines.

The other four contestants non Asians who have won the Miss International Queen pageant title have come from South America (Brazil and Colombia) and North America (US and Mexico) 

It's obvious that the Miss International Queen pageant has an anti-Blackness problem, and the immediate fix for that is to have an international panel of judges that doesn't have ties to Miss Tiffany's Cabaret.

And when I say an international panel of judges, I don't mean just grabbing judges from other parts of Asia because that won't fix the glaring anti-Black bias problem.   Y'all still have a continent wide problem in Asia of considering white skin as the penultimate in beauty.

It's why the Miss Universe pageant not only has a diverse judging panel, that panel also includes former titleholders because what is considered beautiful is different in different corners of the world, and yeah Miss International Queen, dark skinned women are beautiful as well. 

If this pageant is going to claim that it is the premiere international pageant for transgender women, some of those trans women are going to be dark skinned ones with African heritage. 

The anti-Black, pro-Asian and pro Miss Tiffany showgirl bias has got to end in order for the Miss International Queen trans pageant to have international credibility with people around the world who are thinking about competing in it.

Because no one is going to travel halfway around the world or put their hard earned money towards entering a pageant that they believe is unfairly rigged or they won't have a shot at winning because the judges are biased against them.

Is The Desire For White Skin In Thailand Negatively Impacting African Diaspora Transwomen's Chances To Win The MIQ Title?

I wrote about the controversial conclusion of the 2011 edition of the Thailand based Miss International Queen Pageant and wondered aloud about the interesting factoid that no transwoman from the African Diaspora has ever won this event in its history.

Could it be because white skin is considered desirable and beautiful in the Land Of Smiles and other countries in the Asia-Pacific rim and those prejudices for white skin are impacting the chances of darker skin beauties to win an international trans pageant with all Thai judges?  

Skin bleaching and lightening creams are not just an issue in the Caribbean, African nations and the rest of the African Diaspora, they are also an issue in the Asia-Pacific rim as well.    A survey done by marketing company Synovate discovered that 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan use a skin lightening cream.  

There is also region wide stigma, racism and negativity attached to having dark skin as well.   In Thailand as in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language.   It's not surprising as a child of the Diaspora to learn that a common Thai insult aimed at someone of lower social standing is "tua dam," or black body.  Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck's liver). 

When you have reports of Thai women who in pursuit of that desirable white skin are disfigured because of black market skin lightening products that promise to deliver but ruin skin but lives in the process, it leads you to ponder the possibility that the distaste for darker skin is infecting the all Thai judging panels and negatively impacting the African descended and other dark skin beauties who enter the MIQ pageant.

I'd submit that the troubling pattern of no African Diaspora contestant ever winning the Miss International Queen pageant over its existence is evidence to suggest that it is probably happening.

It's also why I'm not letting this issue go in continuing to call for an international panel of judges for the 2012 and future Miss International Queen pageants.   As the Miss Universe and Miss World ciswomen pageant organizers already know, what you Thais consider beautiful for a woman doesn't have the same currency in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America, Europe or North America. 

It's past time for the Miss International Queen judging panels, if they are going to continue to claim they are a premier international transgender pageant, to expand their beauty mindset to reflect that just as those cis pageant systems do.

It's not a surprise because of an internationally diverse judging panel, this year's Miss Universe is a statuesque woman from Angola.

It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next year for the Miss International Queen pageant. Will they continue business as usual in the face of strong rumors that a Manila based international trans pageant may be about to kick off next year and risk getting eclipsed or will they evolve already and institute those international judging pageant that will give African Diaspora and dark skin beauties from other nations a fair chance to win?