Picked up the newspaper yesterday to see that a striking woman, by the name of Jenna Talackova, had been kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada Pageant after being selected as a finalist. Normally, this would not be an article that would be of particular interest to me, but this woman is transgender, meaning she started out life biologically as a boy, but felt like she was meant to be a girl, so underwent the hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery to make her a woman. So forgive me if I’m wrong, but I suspect Jenna has been kicked out of the competition by some very narrow minded people when it comes to defining gender.
The statement that the Miss Universe Canada issued last week is that “Jenna will not complete the pageant, because she didn’t meet the requirements to compete, despite having stated otherwise on her entry form.” I ask Miss Universe Canada, which of those requirements did Jenna not meet? If it’s that she said she’s a girl, well from the reports in the media, she is, having gone through hormone therapy from the age of 14 and gender reassignment surgery at 19. In fact, I’d harbour a guess that Jenna has thought a lot more about what it means to be a woman than those of us that were biologically born as such.
‘She was dishonest,’ said Denis Davila, the director of Miss Universe Canada, referring to the fact that Jenna wrote on her application that she had been born a female. Denis – I suspect in Jenna’s mind she was born a female, otherwise she would have never gone through such a surgery. Gender is more than just your biological bits. Jenna has already been through more challenges than most her age, yet the Miss Universe Canada Pageant wants to penalise her for that? In my mind, that is not an institution that should be penalising someone with embracing being a woman.
Clearly, based on this video from Miss International Queen in Thailand last year, Jenna is not trying to hide anything, as far as her gender is concerned. Jenna appears at 8:08 minutes into the video.
That is my opinion though. I am sure there are other opinions out there. Feel free to weigh in here or to sign Jenna’s petition, which maintains she was disqualified from the contest solely because she was born male.
Rob Jones says
I suspect the “she was dishonest” argument is, ironically, not very honest either.
I very much doubt that Jenna was asked directly if she was born biologically as a woman. I doubt anyone was asked that question, because most people assume that if you tick off “female” on an entry form, that your being born a girl is kind of a given (even though, as we’ve seen, it’s not).
Part of this for me is the innate gender politics that Miss Canada, or Miss Anywhere, pageants tend to gloss over, and that is that there is no male equivalent for this type of event. Why are women subject to such judgements of suitability, held to the standard of some ideal as applied to their gender in this way in the first place? What does the event itself tell us about how women are judged in our society, that doesn’t apply to men?
Somewhere in there, I believe, lies the real answer to why a transgendered woman has been disqualified from this event.
W Dallian says
I read that what they had a problem with was that the entry form asked whether she was born female and that she’d ticked it off as “yes.”
then they came back and said that because she had had reassignment surgery that she’d obviously lied about her sex.
Jenna didn’t lie though. She was indeed born female: that’s the point.
She simply corrected a physical error.
Nomadic Chick says
Such a controversial issue. I volunteered with the Vancouver Rape Relief Shelter and during my orientation, management discussed an issue that had been brewing for years. A trans-sexual woman who was a volunteer was asked to leave her post. I recall she filed a discrimination case against the Shelter, but I cant remember the result… The delicacy is that the Shelter is a safe haven for women being abused by men and for them to tak to a person who was once a man was apparently uncomfortable. I kept silent at the time and wish I hadn’t – because I didn’t agree. Sexual reassignment is a painful process and nobody undergoes that unless they wholly believe themselves to be the other gender.
And someone who would endure the expense and emotional roller coaster to do so are highly unlikely to engage in male hetero culture, or adopt the cues. Does a very butch lesbian equate to the same as a man, I wonder? The butch might trash talk, play hockey (yes, women do play hockey) and only drink beer. Does that make her more a man than a woman? And therefore, someone unable to understand abuse, pain or powerlessness?
Gender is no more biological than me being Chinese just because half my parents are.
A very engaging post and great read!
Sweety Darlin' says
I know this has a small percentage of the population up in arms about why wouldn’t this person be allowed to compete. This was decided a long time ago in pageant circles after lawsuits by transgender people. It was determined that persons competing in the pageants must be born biologically as a girl. It is based on a multitude of issues, one of which is how can a woman be expected to compete on the same premise as a former man? While women are just as capable as men to perform tasks and do certain things, they typically approach the tasks differently because of physical and mental differences in genders.
This doesn’t make either party better or worse than the other it is a fact of life. Therefore women and men can not be expected to compete as equals in this type of competition.
The Miss America contract states, “2.6.1. Gender. I am and I have always been a female.”
If this contestant agreed to a similar statement, and hadn’t actually always been a female, then she lied, and that is the grounds for disqualification.
Pageant people are not as narrow minded as you indicate, but we have rules just like everyone else, we just ask that you follow them and be honest. Gender may be more than girlie bits, but the contract and the intent of the contract is that you are based on girlie bits.
Tasha says
I have to agree with you. I too, was disgusted and rather ashamed to call myself Canadian when I read about what they are putting her thru.
I just hope with all this public out cry, that Jenna is reinstated.
Some people need to grow a brain – honestly.
Tyler Barton says
Emme, I am afraid that I must express the probably unpopular view in this case that the pageant was correct in disqualifying Jenna. I shall not say that the variety of reasons given were the best ones, but I shall say that there is an obvious logical fallacy that occurs when we try to look at the issue from an emotional perspective. This flaw in reasoning comes in backing Jenna in her acquired femininity because she obviously felt that she should have been born a woman. If this were the case, and we held such a conviction as grounds for qualification in this pageant, where does this argument culminate? Let us suppose that an athlete wants to compete in the Olympic Games, and his or her country supports him or her. However, what should happen if the athlete decides that he or she should have been born from another country? Are they to be allowed to compete even still? This leads to the underlying question of whether a person may be allowed to forego all consequences for a decision he or she makes based upon a feeling. One’s gender is not decided by how one feels upon a particular day. One’s gender is irrevocably created at the moment of conception, and it is the primary piece of information that a human life form may possess. People may feel however they wish, and they may elect to alter their person to imitate that which they were not born to be, but the consequences must remain. A person’s thought of what he or she should have been has no bearing upon this case. The gender was altered, which is a clear violation of the rules of the pageant insofar as I have been informed by the New York Times, so the verdict ought to stand.
In closing my opinion upon the matter, I beseech the gentle readers who shall peruse my humble words to recollect that I pass no judgment upon anyone who has elected to pursue the course Jenna has done. While it may be my personal, educated opinion that such an effort is futile and frivolous, I do not pass judgment upon anyone who attempts it, nor do I condemn them. However, if such a decision is made, the person who has chosen that road must live with the consequences it necessarily carries. If it means that you are disqualified from a pageant in which you were in violation of a rule for eligibility, if you are such a woman as you claim to be, Jenna, you must accept such a sentence gracefully and with the utmost pride in who you have striven to become. My thoughts should be wholly the same if the situation had been reversed and a woman had transformed herself into a man.
Finally, Emme, I submit my humble, immense ingratiation to you for allowing me to include my contribution of thought and reason to this informal symposium that you maintain for the pleasure of communal acquaintance and amity, and it is with every attention to nobility, honor, modesty, decency, and propriety that I humbly remain,
Very Respectfully Yours,
Tyler Barton.
Emme says
Enjoyed reading everybody’s two cents on this. Thank you!