The greatest fashionista philosopher once said– “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself!” Coco Chanel’s words resonated with all who wanted to express themselves according to their truest identity.
According to American Psychological Association, a transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to the biological sex to which they were assigned at birth. So one’s “true identity” is what they associate with and not what they are assigned as.
Now that the base is clear let us decode what the newly crowned beauty queen means in today’s lexicon.
Who Is Rikkie Valerie Kolle?
Rikkie Valerie Kolle is a 22-year-old model who entered this year’s Miss Netherlands 2023 Beauty pageant. And a new leaf of history was overturned on July 8, when Rikkie was announced Miss Netherlands among nine other contestants. But this was a momentous decision because Kolle is actually the first transgender woman to be crowned as Miss Netherlands.
The Dutch-Moluccan model and actress from Breda beat the first-runner-up Nathalie Mobelzada from Amsterdam.
The 26-year-old Habiba Mostafa was titled Miss Congeniality, and Lou Dirchs was bestowed with Miss Social Media.
Ona Moody, the crowned queen of the previous year, passed on the honor to Kolle at the grand celebrations held at AFAS theater in Leusden. Kolle expresses her ambition to be the voice and role model for the queer community. Given her historic win, she will now represent the Netherlands and be the face of the transgender visibility movement at the global platform of the 72nd Miss Universe, 2023, to be held in El Salvador.
Why Is Trans Woman Miss Netherlands Being Targeted Online?
And this historic win opened a floodgate of gender discourse. What should have been a congratulatory post turned into a cesspool of hate comments?
“This is NOT okay. You’re a man, and you’ll always be a man. Stop eliminating women. It’s gross and unfair. Go compete with men. This has to stop!!!!”
“How in the world can you think that it is ok taking a womens spot? Taking something from women who have worked for this their whole lives… this is why trans get such backlash.. because you think this is ok. This ain’t ok. You may be Miss TRANS Womens Netherlands but you won’t in any wine s world be recognized and Miss Netherlands. Funny you all can’t define a women, but you know it takes bobs, a vagina, a uterus, specific chromosomes… and seeing as you can’t ever do all that you do the minimum, slap some makeup on and call urself a women. I’m sorry you are a man trying to be a women and you need to put yourself in that category. It’s not hate towards you because you think k it’s ok what your doing.. it’s pitty cause you aren’t getting the help you need, you are defiling what god created and because you aren’t ok with you being you, but kinda of like middle school you want to be someone your not. Hopefully you will do the right thing… doubtfully though as most like you don’t.”
“Well done. A man just stole the first place of a woman and gets applause for it. Full circle, we just killed 200 years of work of women who fought for equality.”
There are two points of contention in these criticisms–
The main criticism stems from the general perception that ‘a Trans Woman is not a real Woman.’ People point out that a biological male has been given the title reserved for a biological female, i.e., “Miss” Netherlands.
#2 The following criticism is that Kolle’s win seems rigged only to make a sensational headline, “first transgender woman won a beauty pageant.” People believe that she is undeserving of the crown compared to the runner-up and was given the title only out of “wokeness.”
Now that we know the problem let us see if we can find a common ground.
Crossdressing vs Transgender
“Just another guy in drag pushing real women aside to feed his ego and virtue signal to his posse. I am so sick of this I could 🤮!!! ALL OF THOSE WOMEN COMPETING SHOULD HAVE WALKED OUT AND REFUSED TO TAKE PART IN THIS SHAM!!!”
In one short sentence– One is an activity, the other is an identity.
Cross-dressing is a form of expression where the person “dresses up” in gender-normative clothing. This doesn’t mean they want to completely imbibe the lifestyle of that specific gender. They are just having fun dressing up as another gender but have no intention of being identified as that gender.
On the contrary, being transgender is a commitment to one’s choice. A person transitions to the biological sex (close to accuracy) with hormonal therapy, sex-reassignment surgery, speech therapy, facial reconstruction plastic surgery, fertility preservation (egg/sperm storage), and other socially-inclined modifications. They are making permanent decisions for their identity.
Clearly, there is a significant difference between a “man-pretending-to-be-a-woman” and a “tansgender woman.”
Beauty Standards Are Social Constructs
A beauty pageant has several aspects, the obvious being beauty. But other significant characteristics include social awareness, intelligence, representation of nationality, gender, race, class, and more.
These contests are no longer restricted to beauty standards but also judge the overall personality and ideology of the person.
“Dutch men make better women than Dutch women.”
“Is that Bill Hader in drag?”
“I thought Freddie Mercury, but couldn’t be… right?”
“All them real women need to get back in the kitchen, because men are taking over everything, even their beauty pageants.”
“You are NOT a woman. You are a pretty boy in a dress and makeup. Do not insult us.”
The contradictory opinions indicate only one thing– people are confused. And they are projecting these doubts as hate toward Miss Netherlands.
Some comments are bashing her as she does not meet the traditional beauty standards, while others are slamming her for being “beautiful, but a man.”
It is a social construct, and this decision proves that the judges awarded Kolle because she truly imbibed the essence of Miss Netherlands— from beauty to brains to personality.
What Is the Difference Between a Cis Woman’s Plastic Surgery and a Trans Woman’s Facial Reconstruction Surgery?
“Delusional insanity and mental madness is now celebrated in this fallen world. First of all it’s not fair for a biological man to compete against biological women. Periodt! Second of all who decided that this was acceptable? Gender dysphoria needs counseling not praise. It’s the only mental illness that’s getting applauded and it’s just mind-boggling to me that anyone in their right mind would look at this and consider it ok. Just STOP!!!! Men who want to be women will never be a real woman and it’s delusional to think that they are. That’s like me considering that I could be a real man when duh I’m definitely not a man!!!”
The next criticism is that beauty pageants are supposed to be about natural beauty, not artificially created. But what about the cis women who went through “beauty modifications?”
Here is a video explaining the Facial Feminization Surgery by a Tranns woman–
Several cis-women contestants have gone under the knife. There is not much difference between a cis woman’s plastic surgery and a trans woman’s facial reconstruction surgery, except that the latter is considered a drastic transformation.
Transgender Women In Women’s Platform
“This doesn’t make sense anymore, a transsexual doesn’t have to be in a contest for women! if they wanted to define a huge list of new genders (transsexual, non-binary, pansexual, etc) then each gender must have its own sports competitions, its own beauty contests! Why do they want to get into those of the female sex? Just as they have felt a marginalized and disrespected gender by society by accepting them in these competitions they are enormously disrespecting the gender of real women!!”
The initial wave of criticism comes from people complaining that women’s empowerment has taken two steps back because of trans-inclusion. This debate is more prominent in athletics, considering performance is based on physiological parameters. A WNBA all-star, Brittney Griner, was criticized similarly during her public appearance.
However, a beauty contest is about physical features and judging on the overall personality. Similarly, a musician, artist, or any other creative profession doesn’t require validation of gender; all they need is talent.
If you see it from this perspective, trans-inclusion doesn’t necessarily take away anyone’s chance. It is a competition, and there will be a winner— and Miss Netherlands is Rikkie Valerie Kolle.
Miss Netherlands Trans-Inclusion History
The 71-year-old beauty contest first allowed transgender women to compete in 2012. Angela Ponce, from Spain, was a trailblazer trans-woman, competing in the pageant in 2018.
Several other trans women have won in the past–
- 19-year-old Brian Nguyen won Miss Greater Derry 2023
- Kataluna Enriquez won Miss Nevada USA 2021.
What are your thoughts on the first-ever transgender Miss Netherlands? Do you think it’s an unfair competition? What is your take on separate contests only for transgender persons?
Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.
