Beauty pageants have taken place around the country recently without official permission. The Department of Art Performance’s head discusses public reaction to these events.

Teen beauty pageants out of control?

Regarding the recent lesbian pageant in HCM City, is it true that the regulation on beauty pageants stated in Decision 87/2008/QD includes a loophole? The regulation says, “Gender-transformed people are not allowed to compete in beauty contests.” But it doesn’t mention whether lesbians and gays can compete.

The regulation provides that eligible beauty pageant contestants should be female citizens, 18-years-old or older, who have not undergone any gender transformation surgery or plastic surgery.

We view the Prince Style pageant held by thegioikhac.com forum as a new problem. Organising entertainment programmes that include onstage performances must be permitted by relevant agencies, regardless of the gender of the performers.

In light of public opinion, the contest had some law-breaking elements which should have been controlled by the organisers. We will examine and deal with the case later, including whether this was an unintentional or intentional mistake.

There have been similar contests for homosexuals and gender-transformed people previously held in HCM City. Some say that the State does not prohibit gender transformation, so the State should not be too strict regarding beauty pageants for gender-transformed people. What do you think?

They should be carefully considered as whether they are suitable to Vietnamese culture. We cannot apply everything from other cultures to ours. Meanwhile, I would like to stress that all open entertainment programmes should receive permission from concerned agencies. The organisers of the Prince Style contest did not seek any permission at all. They advertised the event and organised it without permission, which means they violated Government Decree 11. The HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is responsible for this case, and we are waiting on their explanation.

What about the Miss Teen Viet Nam pageant, put on by Viet Nam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) and VTC Game? Under regulations, is a pageant permitted when candidates are between 16 and 19 years of age?

VTC had sent us its proposal for the contest and asked for our permission. But we did not allow them to organise the contest as the contestants and selection criteria were not within the scope of the regulation.

If it were considered as a recreational or extra-curricular activity for teens, the organiser should have sought permission from the Ministry of Education and Training because the contestants were under the ministry’s control.

If it were permitted on that basis, the contest could only be held through online voting and the final show would be an awards ceremony only. If the organiser turned the online contest into a real beauty pageant in any form, they violated the regulation.

If the Ministry of Education and Training permitted VTC to organise the contest, the ministry should have asked them to sign a commitment not to violate the regulation on beauty pageants. If the ministry failed to ask them to make the commitment and they broke the regulation, the ministry would have been the first to blame.

We need entertainment for teens but we should not turn them into adults too soon, with illusions about fame. That’s why we should design beauty contests suited to teenagers, which focus on knowledge, in order to encourage teenagers to be more eager to learn.

We did not permit the contest but we have followed it closely. If there were any wrongdoing, we would have raised our objections.

VietNamNet/VNS