Rikkie Valerie Kollé has won Miss Netherlands 2023.  Kollé is the first trans woman to win the title and will be the second trans woman to compete in Miss Universe.  Kollé will be the first transgender woman to become Miss Universe if he wins in El Salvador next year.

Rikkie Kollé is a Dutch-Moluccan model and actor.  Kollé changed his name from Rik to Rikkie when he was eleven years old and underwent gender affirming surgery in January.  Kollé said to USA Today on his victory, “I want to be a voice and a role model for all young women and queer people.”

Kollé will possibly not be the only trans woman in the race, Daniela Arroyo González is a trans woman activist and will be competing to be Miss Puerto Rico 2023.  The CEO of Miss Universe is Anne Jakrajutatip, a Thai businessman and trans activist.  He said, “I don’t call Miss Universe a beauty pageant anymore, I call it a woman’s empowerment competition.”

Contrary to Jakrajutatip’s belief, this is not women’s empowerment.  This is female denial.  How can Kollé be a voice for young women if he’s never been a young woman?  This is the pure definition of mansplaining.  What can he teach young women that’s so valuable other than a makeup tutorial?  He has never been a young woman and has only started looking like one this year.  If there’s anyone that young women should not be looking to as a role model, it’s a man that’s trying to convince the world he’s a woman.

Miss Universe advocates for humanitarian causes.  What gives women the edge in these competitions is when they talk about their experiences in the different ways they’ve made an impact in the world.  Ona Moody was last year’s Miss Netherlands winner but before that, she was a maternity nurse.  The current Miss Universe and former Miss USA, R’Bonney Gabriel taught sewing classes to domestic violence and human trafficking survivors.  Rikki Kollé is an actor and model and the most substantial thing he’s done is compete in Holland’s Next Top Model.  Also, what will he do if he wins, advocate for a tiny group of people that society already bows down to? 

There are actual problems in this world that could be addressed if the right woman was in this position.  

This is yet another example of modern society trying to erase women’s spaces.  Biological men are being invited to women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, sports teams, and now women’s beauty pageants with only three words, “I’m a woman.”  Beauty pageants are the most feminine places in the world next to women’s bathrooms and they’re still not safe.  Miss Universe started letting transgender women compete in 2012 but did not let married women and mothers compete until the upcoming Miss Universe competition.  

So men were eligible to be Miss Universe before women who’ve done the greatest thing that a woman could do and that is give birth to a baby.  Miss Universe aims to empower women when they’ve literally put men first and will continue to do so for the sake of inclusion and diversity.  It is not a company that is run by women for women because a) a woman does not run it and b) does not advocate for women because if they did, they wouldn’t have let this happen.  Miss Universe  is so inclusive they let men and women compete together.

A lot of people argue that beauty pageants like Miss Universe do not empower women because they rely on superficial aspects such as a swimsuit and evening gown contest.  However, in order to be Miss Universe, you can’t just be a beautiful woman.  A big part of the contest is the Q&A. Judges ask a thoughtful question on an important topic like last year’s: “If you win Miss Universe, how would you work to demonstrate this is an empowering and progressive organization?”  The candidates don’t know the question beforehand or know their opponents’ answers and have to come up with the best thoughtful response on the spot in seconds.  Sure, these girls are trained beforehand but still, you have to be intelligent to do this.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was a lawyer and judge from Harvard University and she couldn’t answer what a woman was because, as she explained it, she’s not a biologist.  Women should be just as qualified as a biologist to say what they are.  Miss Universe used to truly be about women’s empowerment but this move has shown that they have regressed as has the rest of society.

Miss Universe should be hosting a beauty pageant for transgender women.  So beautiful transgender women like Rikki Kollé can compete in a competition that is for them.  Instead they are stealing opportunities from beautiful women who’ve done far more to deserve this than him.  Imagine the hours of beauty preparation the other women had to go through just so that the judges could say that the most beautiful person in Netherlands is a man.  Rikki Kollé is not a legitimate Miss Netherlands.

Image: Screen shot from OneIndia News video, via YouTube