'Woman from Birth': Miss Italy Pageant Bans Transgender Competitors

Whether to make women's competitions and championships inclusive of transwomen or not has been a debatable matter. A few fields are looking to ban transwomen from participating in female championships. A recent one is the Miss Italy beauty pageant banning transgender women from competing. 

Miss Italy beauty pageant's representative stated that contestants must be "woman from birth." The statement came weeks after Rikkie Kollé was crowned Miss Netherlands. Kollé became the first transgender woman to win the title. In a report by Primato Nazionale, Miss Italy's official patron, Patrizia Mirigliani, stated that other beauty pageants making transgender inclusivity efforts are a "bit absurd."

Miss Italy Pageant Bans Transgender Competitors

According to Mirigliani, beauty pageants are using transgender inclusivity as a strategy to headline and emphasised that the contest headed by her "included in its regulations the specification that one must be a woman from birth." She also added that the criteria were made because probably even then, it was expected that women could undergo modifications or men could become women. 

Since the 1980s, Patrizia Mirigliani got involved with Miss Italy. Her father Enzo Mirigliani began leading the pageant in 1959. 

It is not the first time the Miss Italy pageant applied strict rules. Earlier as well, the Miss Italy contest maintained stringent standards for entry. In 2012, it banned any contestant undergone plastic surgery. Mirigliani even restricted revealing swimwear, body piercings, and tattoos. According to her, the changes helped evoke the "classic beauties" of the 1950s.

Rikkie Kollé shared the news on her Instagram, saying, "I did it." Kollé with her well-wishers' joy, also received flak from other netizens. However, she is determined to focus on her upcoming endeavours- The Miss Universe pageant. She also wrote, "On to many more adventures, let’s get Miss Universe ready. So excited."

Earlier, the World Athletics Council, the international governing body over track and field, also announced a ban on transgender athletes from participating in female.

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