Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

Giving Victims a Voice: The Miss Landmine Pageant

posted by ChickSpeak
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 3:24pm EDT

Morten Traavik wasn’t expecting much from his trip to Angola in 2003, but what he found there would change the future for women across the world.

During his time in Angola with his then girlfriend, Traavik immediately recognized two very important things: women everywhere that had been maimed by landmines left over from the country’s 27-year-long civil war were outcast from their fully functioning citizen counterparts, and that the people of Angola loved performances - even if it was humbly held in a narrow back alley.

This got him thinking about ways to convince the Angolan government that they needed to stop overlooking people with disabilities, and last year he created the Miss Landmine Pageant to show that every woman has the right to be beautiful.

Traavik’s manifesto for the Miss Landmine project seeks to create both female and disabled pride and empowerment, establish global and local landmine awareness, replace the passive term “victim” with the active term “survivor,” and to question the traditional concepts of physical perfection to celebrate true beauty.

The event received wide international press coverage and was televised nationally, which prompted Traavik to expand his vision. This December, 20 more women will get their chance to shine in the 2nd Annual Miss Landmine Pageant which will be held in Cambodia.

This year’s contestants range from age 18 to 48, representing each of the country’s provinces, and were victims of landmines in the 1980s and 1990s when they were young children going on simple errands to get fire wood or water from a neighboring village.

And these women don’t ask for much. While many of us in the States fantasize about making large salaries in the glitz and glam of New York City or becoming the next American Idol, these women just want to have a proper fitting prosthetic leg or to be able to start a small business out of their homes for sewing and baking cakes to support their families.

To satisfy perhaps these women’s most basic need, the winner of the 2009 Miss Landmine Pageant will receive a specially-designed and customized prosthesis from Norway’s leading orthopedic clinic, worth approximately $15,000.

Some are skeptical of the pageant’s true intentions, however. Traavik was highly criticized for putting on what others viewed as a “freak show” that exploited the women in Angola, and this year the Cambodian government has currently placed a ban on the event because it considers the pageant a violation of human rights.

These skeptics believe that putting disabled women on a stage will make them the target of much stares and scrutiny, but they fail to realize that that’s exactly what disabled landmine victims face every day. These women are not unfamiliar with being looked at or glared upon. Instead, the Miss Landmine Pageant might be their one chance to have people really see them for who they are on the inside and to admire them for their strength and courage.

Today, the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty (also known at the Ottawa Accord) has yet to be signed by the United States. One of this year’s candidates, 24-year-old Song Kosal, travelled to Washington, D.C. in 2001 to present former Secretary of State Collin Powell with a petition of more than 260,000 signatures with no avail.

Knowing that the United States, along with China and Russia, is one of the leading weapons producers in the world, Traavik noted in an interview for the United Arab Emirates’ The National Newspaper, “It’s not a coincidence that these countries are unwilling to sign the Ottawa Accord…Of course there is a powerful arms industry and a powerful arms lobby that does not want to lose money.”

For those interested, check out the Miss Landmine Web site here to read more about the project and to vote for your favorite candidate. The voting will be open until December 3, the UN World Disability Day. There is also a place to help support the cause by purchasing a Miss Landmine T-shirt for $25.

Ali Thompson is a graduate of Hope College in Michigan with a degree in Communications. She enjoys freelancing in graphic design and magazine writing as well as unwinding with hazelnut mocha lattes and shopping for red peep-toe flats.

Photo from http://www.kobiety.pl/temp/upload/Image/uroda/technika/miss_landmine_angola.jpg