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2012 Miss Universe Canada Alena Konovalova

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2012 Miss Universe Canada Alena Konovalova

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Exactly how much hermaphroditism is too much for Miss Universe?

Jenna Talackova has been served no injustice by being disqualified from this year’s Miss Universe Canada pageant. The 23-year-old beauty-queen-hopeful may have lost her shot at the crown, but the worldwide attention currently being lavished upon her undoubtedly outshines any notoriety she would have enjoyed as the next Miss Universe Canada.

Talackova claims she was unfairly dismissed from the pageant after organizers discovered that she was originally born male. And perhaps that is so. But we need not cast our pity over in her direction; I suspect she’ll do just fine. While the debacle may have exposed Talackova as “unfit” to compete against “natural” women, it has, to a far greater effect, uncovered the contradictions and backward thinking that riddles the contemporary Miss Universe industry.

There’s no question that Talackova, who began hormone therapy at the age of 14, was unique to the group competing for the Miss Universe Canada crown. Pageant organizers have released a statement saying Talackova, “did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form,” though they have not explicitly confirmed that she was disqualified for being male at birth. Talackova underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 2010 and is, by all accounts, female, though her gender at seemingly rendered her ineligible to compete on the same level as the other Miss Universe contestants.

Which, first off, raises the question of … why? If Talackova were competing in a weightlifting challenge or a high-jump competition or some other contest wherein being born male would offer some kind of a competitive edge, that would be one thing. But Miss Universe is a beauty competition. Going from Jack to Jill can’t possibly provide an advantage over the girls who aren’t injecting themselves with estrogen to keep the facial hair at bay.

Still, allegedly, in the eyes of the Miss Universe Canada administration, original gonads are a non-negotiable. Which, of course, elicits the question of what it means to be a “natural” woman. Would a girl born with MRHK Syndrome — that is, without a uterus, fallopian tubes and a structurally typical vagina — be prohibited from competing for Miss Universe Canada? What about a girl who fails to begin menstruation? And what degree of hermaphroditism at birth would be tolerated for a would-be contestant in her later years? I ask partly in jest, but these question do become relevant when a contestant, who believed herself female since the age of four, is disqualified for having had the wrong parts.

Why are we to believe Talackova is less a woman than her female-since-birth competitors, many of whom dye their hair, paint their nails, inject their lips, and plump up their breasts with silicone and saline? If Miss Universe Canada is going to insist that its contestants are “natural” women, it should, indeed, insist that its contestants are real women. Or at least provide some guidance as to how much surgical tweaking a woman can undergo before crossing the line from “natural woman” to “we wish her the best.”

Talackova’s dismissal also helps to highlight the baffling contradictions inherent in beauty pageant lore. While pageant organizers consistently try to legitimize competitions as more than skin-deep animals parades — through interview rounds, the expectation of charitable contributions, and the Miss Universe assessment that its women are “savvy, goal-oriented and aware” — the act of eliminating a contestant based entirely on skin-deep criterion proves that the emperor is strutting the stage buck naked.

Exactly how much hermaphroditism is too much for Miss Universe?

Jenna Talackova has been served no injustice by being disqualified from this year’s Miss Universe Canada pageant. The 23-year-old beauty-queen-hopeful may have lost her shot at the crown, but the worldwide attention currently being lavished upon her undoubtedly outshines any notoriety she would have enjoyed as the next Miss Universe Canada.

Talackova claims she was unfairly dismissed from the pageant after organizers discovered that she was originally born male. And perhaps that is so. But we need not cast our pity over in her direction; I suspect she’ll do just fine. While the debacle may have exposed Talackova as “unfit” to compete against “natural” women, it has, to a far greater effect, uncovered the contradictions and backward thinking that riddles the contemporary Miss Universe industry.

There’s no question that Talackova, who began hormone therapy at the age of 14, was unique to the group competing for the Miss Universe Canada crown. Pageant organizers have released a statement saying Talackova, “did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form,” though they have not explicitly confirmed that she was disqualified for being male at birth. Talackova underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 2010 and is, by all accounts, female, though her gender at seemingly rendered her ineligible to compete on the same level as the other Miss Universe contestants.

Which, first off, raises the question of … why? If Talackova were competing in a weightlifting challenge or a high-jump competition or some other contest wherein being born male would offer some kind of a competitive edge, that would be one thing. But Miss Universe is a beauty competition. Going from Jack to Jill can’t possibly provide an advantage over the girls who aren’t injecting themselves with estrogen to keep the facial hair at bay.

Still, allegedly, in the eyes of the Miss Universe Canada administration, original gonads are a non-negotiable. Which, of course, elicits the question of what it means to be a “natural” woman. Would a girl born with MRHK Syndrome — that is, without a uterus, fallopian tubes and a structurally typical vagina — be prohibited from competing for Miss Universe Canada? What about a girl who fails to begin menstruation? And what degree of hermaphroditism at birth would be tolerated for a would-be contestant in her later years? I ask partly in jest, but these question do become relevant when a contestant, who believed herself female since the age of four, is disqualified for having had the wrong parts.

Why are we to believe Talackova is less a woman than her female-since-birth competitors, many of whom dye their hair, paint their nails, inject their lips, and plump up their breasts with silicone and saline? If Miss Universe Canada is going to insist that its contestants are “natural” women, it should, indeed, insist that its contestants are real women. Or at least provide some guidance as to how much surgical tweaking a woman can undergo before crossing the line from “natural woman” to “we wish her the best.”

Talackova’s dismissal also helps to highlight the baffling contradictions inherent in beauty pageant lore. While pageant organizers consistently try to legitimize competitions as more than skin-deep animals parades — through interview rounds, the expectation of charitable contributions, and the Miss Universe assessment that its women are “savvy, goal-oriented and aware” — the act of eliminating a contestant based entirely on skin-deep criterion proves that the emperor is strutting the stage buck naked.

Jenna Talackova’s Miss Universe Canada bid could be back on after Donald Trump steps in

VANCOUVER — Donald Trump has stepped in to overturn a decision by the Miss Universe Organization — which he owns — that would prevent a transgender Canadian beauty pageant contestant from competing because she was not “naturally born” a woman.


Jenna Talackova, a tall blond who underwent gender-reassignment surgery at age 19 and holds legal documents — including a passport, birth certificate and driver’s licence — affirming her identity as a woman, wants pageant organizers to go further and drop eligibility rules she calls discriminatory.


The Vancouver-born Talackova, 23, was kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada competition last Friday after she was selected as one of 65 finalists. The winner of that contest, who ultimately will be crowned on May 19 in Toronto, will go on to represent Canada in the global Miss Universe Pageant later in the year.


“As long as she meets the standards of legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, which we understand that she does, Jenna Talackova is free to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant,” said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump and executive vice president of his business group.


“Nobody is capitulating. Rather the Miss Universe organization is respecting the laws of Canada,” Cohen told Reuters, adding that she, “like all the other contestants, is wished the best of luck by Mr. Trump.”


He also said, “Assuming she wins, she would be the representative of that country (Canada)” in the larger Miss Universe Pageant.



The decision came after a Los Angeles press conference on Monday — Talackova’s first since the news broke — where she called for the contest’s “naturally born” female requirement to be permanently overturned.


She was flanked by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who focused blame for Talackova’s disqualification on Trump.



“[Ms. Talackova] did not ask Mr. Trump to prove that he is a naturally born man or … to see his anatomy to prove that he was male,” Allred said.


Allred is known for representing high-profile clients, such as: English actress Charlotte Lewis, who alleged that director Roman Polanski had sexually abused her as a teen; Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the O.J. Simpson murder trial; and a number of Tiger Woods’ ex-lovers.


Allred said the situation hasn’t quite been resolved.


“(Donald) Trump has caved in a bit already,” Allred said. “He has to go the rest of the way and say it loudly, and say it clearly, that not only will Jenna be allowed to compete, but that the rule is gone — no ifs, ands, buts or ors. No conditions and no excuses.


“Otherwise, we are considering all of Jenna’s legal options.”


Gender recognition requirements vary slightly by province in Canada and can include obtaining medical certificates and legal affidavits from doctors. Meeting standards established by other international competitions, however, could be more difficult: Rules for the Miss U.S. International competition, for example, state an entrant must be a “naturally born genetic female.”


The brief statement issued by the Miss Universe organization did not elaborate on what the requirements entail.


Talackova called the statement “confusing.”


Talackova said she has known she was a female since she was four years old. She began hormone therapy at 14 and had sex reassignment surgery in 2010.


“Since I was conscious I always felt this way,” she wrote in an email to the Vancouver Sun two weeks ago.


Her profile was removed from the Miss Universe Canada finalists’ page in mid-March.



A news release issued over the weekend said Talackova is “deeply humbled by the overwhelming support she has received and the important attention to trans issues that her situation has catalyzed. She understandably realizes that her case could be a significant landmark for the dignity and liberty of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) citizens everywhere.”


“She’s very visible, and people are saying ‘Here is a beautiful person who transitioned,’ ” said Jillian Page, a Montreal-based blogger on transgendered issues. “So many guys are saying, ‘She’s beautiful, she has to be a woman’ — very few people are discussing chromosomes.”


As international competitions go, the Olympics have typically been the staging ground for transgendered issues, with women who were born male being accused of having an unfair advantage. In 2004, just before the Athens Olympics, the International Olympic Committee ruled that transexuals could compete, as long as they had completed sex reassignment surgery — and had undergone hormone therapy for at least two years.