3 combat homophobia for Man of the World, Mr Universe, Mr Elite crowns

MALE pageantry is an art and it’s a big deal.

In an interview with Sunday Newsday last Tuesday, representatives for three upcoming male pageants spoke about what it means to them to represent TT in pageantry – a field that is usually associated with women and beauty.

In September 2020, pageant director Sohan Badall issued a call to men between the ages of 18 to 36 to step forward to represent TT in the Man of the World competition tentatively scheduled to be held in May. The time frame for submission was short. The ad which was circulated on social media first popped up on September 24 with a six-day deadline. A total of 18 men responded but three of them were screened out for not meeting the requirements.

Fifteen men from across TT were chosen to take part in the local leg of the competition which was due to take place on December 27. On the day of the competition held at Runway Hotel, Piarco, 10 men showed up. Five dropped out without reason but organisers suspect it had to do with the homophobic and body-shaming comments on social media after their photos were published.

In the end, three contestants were crowned – Johnathan Samuels, Sean Paul and Ronaldo Santana.

Samuels was chosen to represent TT in Man of the World scheduled to take place in the Philippines on May 21. Paul was selected for Mr Universe in India in September and Santana for Mr Elite in Guatemala in October. All three competitions are tentative because of current covid19 restrictions in place globally which includes border closures in many countries and strict quarantine regimes.

For Samuels, pageantry is a lot like performing. The 28-year-old customer service representative, who represented the borough of Arima, said he began performing at 12 and stopped at 19. He danced with Carol La Chapelle and sang with Rapturous Voices Chorale out of University of TT.

“I missed performing and I needed to find an outlet and entered pageantry. Someone sent me the link for the competition, and I applied.”

Samuels competed in 2019 in the Mr Caribbean competition and was the first runner-up behind Mr British Virgin Island, and said he will continue to take part in pageants.

“I strongly believe in male pageantry. It is an avenue for men to express their talents and to highlight their passion for socio-economic issues that they are passionate about.”

In a WhatsApp interview, Badall said he held the competition, bringing with him years of experience working in the pageantry business, because he wanted to offer men the same valuable lessons that he taught to women during their competitions.

“As someone who has been involved in female pageantry both as a coach and a coordinator, and also as a franchise-holder for few years, I was motivated to bring male pageantry to TT. I have always viewed pageants as a positive platform for young women and men to undergo self-development, to develop a sense of self-worth, confidence and also provide a platform from which to be heard in many forms of activisms and charitable work.”

Pageants growing in popularity

Santana said he spent 12 years involved in performing arts and some of those years in pageantry. The 24-year-old who represented the rural district of Tabaquite is no stranger to pageants. He won a scholarship to attend University of the West Indies when he topped the Talented Teenagers competition. He later won the Mr Emancipation title in 2019 and due to the pandemic will retain the crown until a new competition is held.

Saunders said he grew up around performers, so pageantry was a natural step for him.

“I started off looking at Ms World and all of that and then I found out there was pageantry for men, and I dived into it and got involved in competitions. I will say that I am the most experienced in pageantry.”

The newcomer to pageantry, 22-year-old Paul, who represented the southern town of Siparia, began modelling two years ago and was invited to try his luck in the competition. That nudge proved successful and surprising to him.

“I was shocked when I was crowned. I thought I didn’t have a chance to make the top three because everyone stigmatised me because of my size and to many they felt that I was just someone in the pageant for numbers, but I have proven them wrong and shown that the dark horse won.”

Pageantry has been criticised as being misogynistic with some even calling for an end to it as it serves no purpose any more. Badall said male pageantry, like female pageantry has its benefits and setbacks.

“Beauty pageants have long been a contested part of our culture. Some see them as a hangover from a far more patriarchal era, some see it as exploitation of women, while others defend them for helping women of all backgrounds to feel more confident and to know their self-worth. It’s an ongoing debate which have now spread to the growing popularity of male pageants around the world.”

The veteran Santana disagrees that pageantry is about objectification of women. For him, pageantry creates an avenue for equal opportunity objectification.

“I do not share the view that pageantry objectifies women. To some extent it objectifies both genders. Pageantry objectifies people so much that they objectify themselves.”

Samuels too disagreed with the idea that pageantry objectifies participants. He said pageantry renewed his love for performance and he does it to encourage other to follow their passion.

“I want to close the gap for persons wanting to participate in male pageantry. There are a lot of men who want to partake but would not. I want to assist in breaking that stigma.”

Santana added: “I think male pageantry gives room to competitors who do not have the appearance of what the world will deem the perfect man, like the muscles and the rugged look to be confident. There are many men that are getting to be ambassadors through pageantry, and they don’t fit the look, but they will better represent their country than the ones who look muscular.”

Combatting homophobic

and body shaming stigma

When the 15 contestants were announced and their photos were posted on social media, the men faced a barrage of insults. Some poked fun at their perceived sexuality, looks and build. The comments though did not dissuade all of them. Paul, a debt recovery collector with Island Finance, said he used the negativity to fuel himself.

“The negative comments had no effect on me. I take all the negative and fuel it into something positive. It bothered my family and they asked why I continued.”

Paul said he will be the first person of mixed ethnicity to represent TT and that motivates him to push harder. He has a lean body type, but said he will bulk up slightly as he did not want to fit the stereotype of a body builder physique.

“I want to create that platform for men to feel free to enter and become who they want to become without them being ridiculed or stereotyped into a certain category. For men in pageantry, they should be given the same chance as the women to showcase their talents and handsomeness.”

The pageant’s director said the negative comments were myopic and he will continue to host male pageants in an attempt to address break the barrier.

“I am determined to step out of the box, break the barriers and elevate the third world mentality or Trinbagonians by showing them that pageants both female and male should be seen as a movement to show the importance of diversity, inclusion and equality regardless of gender, race or sexuality. Culture is diverse. We will have succeeded when we no longer have to talk about it as if it’s such a big thing,” said Badall.

Samuels said the comments came from closed-minded people. He said there was a point that he felt to drop out but did not, adding that through it all, his family stood by him.

“It is a way that allows for people to create a platform. People need to witness the good that pageantry can do in creating awareness for causes.”

Santana said: “After seeing the comments I did not give it attention. What I did was direct people to my page where they could have seen my professionalism. To be honest, I definitely felt to walk away when the comments came out. I was told by people that I have an image to uphold and I told them that I was determined to be an ambassador and if that was what I had to face then so be it.”

He said it was thinking like that keeping TT from achieving first world status as first world countries are accepting of people’s right to express themselves.

“We will never reach first world if we still believe men are to be architects and women make-up artistes. Male pageantry can open up the minds of TT.”

Badall said male pageantry is more difficult than women competitions.

“The male pageant proved to be more difficult to successfully execute in many ways for many reasons but mainly because our culture in TT is more of a norm, and anything that doesn’t fit our norms as a people is subjected to trashing and negativity, and as a result of that ignorance it also made it difficult for support and sponsors.”

Competitors aim to make TT proud

The men, who are still working out funding for their competitions, promise to bring glory to TT. Paul said he believes he has a good chance in Mr Universe as he always strives for excellence. His sentiments were echoed by Santana who said Trinis have a way of standing out internationally and he hopes to capitalise on this.

“I want to not only show TT, but show others like me, those goal-oriented and talented, that there is something that you can do that allows you to be an ambassador for your country and is something you can be proud of, and your country can be proud of.”

He added that in TT male pageantry is not a big thing but internationally it is huge. Badall said even with limited resources he will continue his passion of presenting male pageants.

He called on TT to support his vision.

“As a director it is my sincere hope and prayer that TT will soon start seeing the positive aspects of the pageant and support us as we go forward in preparing these three young men to represent our culturally diverse twin island republic at their respective international competitions. We need the public support and, more so, the Government and corporate sector support and sponsorship to secure the expenses of airfare and other necessities for their representation.”