Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has come under fire after complaining about the area’s hosting of the Miss England finals. This is Plymouth has the story:
A row has erupted between Miss England organisers and a Devon MP who claimed the staging of the contest finals in Torbay sent out the wrong message about the area.
Adrian Sanders, Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay, has come under fire after telling the BBC the event was “an own goal”.
Mr Sanders said: “There are fantastic events happening in this area. Cycling events, art exhibitions, it’s all there, but this one is such an own goal.
“It’s about values today, about respecting people as individuals. We judge them on their worth, not on their looks. This flies in the face of that.”
Defending his comments, the MP later told the Plymouth Herald: “Discrimination is directly linked to how women are portrayed and while some may protest that it’s all a bit of harmless fun, it’s no joke when young women harm their health in order to compete with the images such contests promote.
“It’s no laughing matter either that sexual assaults against women are more prevalent in cultures that exploit the female form while failing to treat women as human beings of equal worth to men.”
Both Miss England Ltd and the Chairman of the Torbay Tourism Association have hit back at the claims.
Tourism chief Bill Vincent said the PR value of hosting the event is worth more than half a million pounds, while the director of Miss England pointed out the contestants raised approximately £20,000 for two local Torbay charities.
Mr Vincent said: “We are very disappointed with our MP for his statement to the BBC.
“Mr Sanders should concentrate on sorting out the economy and social problems in the area and not make a statement regarding an event that has put Torquay on the map, when we are trying to raise the profile of the area to increase tourism and investment.
Adrian says that the event failed to bring in the promised visitors to the area, leading to local hotels having to discount rooms. He also complained about the public subsidy of £7000 given to the event at a time when cuts are being made.
In a post on Facebook this morning, he said:
Unlike other Councils Torbay’s elected Mayor chose to take away Council Tax benefits from the 17,600 local families deemed poor enough to qualify for them which is driving demand for support from our food bank. Yet as local people queue up for food hand-outs the Mayor spends £4,000 of our money treating visiting beauty contestants to a gala dinner!
He added that he had come under a hailstorm of abuse for his comments:
In all my years in public life I have never come across such a tide of invective, from people associated with the Miss England competition demanding I should apologise for being ‘ignorant’ and not understanding their event.
He dismissed claims that the event has brought in money to the area:
In response the Council will roll out the old back of an envelope calculation about the value of the publicity. The figure varies between £300,000 and half a million. Of course it’s total nonsense and only represents what they think it would have cost to buy the coverage. If you were going to spend half a million on publicity you would decide the message and the images you wished to convey along with when and where it would appear which is not the case here.
I’m not going to repeat my concerns expressed in an article I wrote in advance of the event about why the Council should not be subsidising an event like this given its health and education responsibilities, suffice to say several parents and people who work with individuals who suffer from body image issues or gender discrimination have thanked me for raising them.
It seems to me that Adrian had good reason to complain both about the event and the public subsidy. I know the abuse I get when I write about things like Page 3 and lads’ mags. It takes a fair bit of courage to stick your head above the parapet on these issues and it’s really important that more men do so. I hope that he and others aren’t put off from doing so in the future because these things need saying.
I’ll leave the last word to Adrian, responding to claims from the event organisers that it was actually a talent show and not a beauty contest:
Contestants and Miss England employees claim it’s not just a beauty contest, and I agree, but it isn’t a talent contest open to anyone. As the photos of the contestants prove, without good looks you don’t get to compete.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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12 Comments
“Contestants and Miss England employees claim it’s not just a beauty contest, and I agree, but it isn’t a talent contest open to anyone. As the photos of the contestants prove, without good looks you don’t get to compete.”
As foolish and irrelevant a comment as pointing out that without the ability to run fast, you can’t compete in the Olympics 100 metres.
Not really Stuart. There is quite a big difference. In the 100m the object is to find the fastest runner. For Miss England talent is a secondary aspect whateverits promoters may like to imply.
David, I don’t think there is any difference. Nobody will get to the Olympic 100m final unless they are blessed with a natural ability to run fast. In the same way, a Miss England contestant would probably need to be blessed with naturally good looks. But it’s what you do with those attributes that makes the difference.
Strange that there’s not a single word in this article about the MR England contest that took place in the same venue the day before :-
http://www.englishriviera.co.uk/whats-on/miss-and-mr-england-finals-p1444173
Double standards and hypocrisy down on the English Riviera. People like Sanders claim to be speaking up for women, yet as usual, it’s women being vilified and told what they should and should not be doing, while men can just do whatever they like and nobody says a word about it.
The ‘Mr England’ is another piece of superficial gross stupidity. It was, however, created purely to mask the grossly sexist ‘Miss England’ farce set up for the amusement of largely-ugly and superficial men.
Now ask yourself why there is not a ‘Mrs England’ competition. 🙁
Tony, there was a MISS England, there was a MR England.. Why would we need a MRS England? Why have two for women, and just the one for men?
Having met a former recent Miss World twice, and sharing a Debating Chamber with 150 Miss World contestants just before they competed in London a few years back, I can say that it is not JUST a beauty contest. Quite a few of the girls had professional careers in jobs that needed the odd brain cell or twelve. Much more than some PR grabbing politicos that had been obscure before trying to appease the feminist fraternity. (Oh and fraternity is the correct version. I’d thought feminism was supposed to give women the option to decide for themselves, not to go into careers certain of the alleged sisterhood consider ‘suitable’).
When you think of the other events held in Torquay that would have Civic Receptions etc, I’d have thought something that might have been reported outside the cliques involved (hmmmm packaging Expos… ) would be welcomed by the local MP.
Hope Adrian enjoys the return to obscurity he deserves. Wonder if other events that might bring trade/publicity to the trailer park that Torbay otherwise is, will ow reconsider their options.
Oh and I do know just HOW many caravans/trailer parks surround Brixham/Torbay area. Used to live nearby. Went to Torbay only if necessary. I wonder if Mr Sanders recalls the blight of the DSS hostels/hotels in his Constituency that made headlines in the Nationals. Great PR there.. but that was during Nigel West’s time..
@Tony
The Mr Universe competition predates both Miss World and Miss Universe, so male beauty contests are nothing new. “Mr Gay UK” has been running successfully for over 30 years, completely untroubled by Lib Dem busybodies as far as I’m aware. The only sexism on display here is the fact that women are criticised for taking part in these competitions, while men can do whatever they please. So much for equality!
It may surprise you to learn that a large proportion of the audience at events like this are women. Lots of women enjoy looking at beautiful and glamorous women. It’s harmless entertainment. Many of the contestants do well out of the competitions. The Miss England company is run by a successful female entrepreneur. I don’t see why any of these women should have to justify themselves to the likes of Sanders. It’s astonishing sometimes just how illiberal liberals can be on issues like this.
Adrian Sanders is MUCH prettier than Miss England!
As a woman, I think what a waste of time.
Is there nothing else to write about,?
Could I wish the women luck.
I wonder if fellow southwest Lib Dem MP Andrew George (whose daughter Morvah is a part-time model) would agree with Adrian Sanders’ take on this.
The worst discrimination against women occurs in cultures where women are taught to be so ashamed of their bodies they are expected to cover them up completely in public. In that context, the fact that women in this country have the choice of entering beauty contests is something to be applauded. I agree that unrealistic portrayals of “beauty” in the industry and the media are an important issue. However, I think that campaigning against women choosing to take part in these contests sends the wrong message about the feminist movement when there are other serious issues of women’s rights to be tackled. It is something I expect from a priggish trendy lefty, not a liberal.
Read these pages to see exactly, what is most important in the lives of those within the Lib Dems.
We are free to do as we wish, as women we have the choice.
I will make no further comments, other than, those I have made.
If it is really the case that this is bad for the image of the area then why call the BBC to complain about it instead of campaigning through the local papers?
I also find it truly fascinating that Mr Sanders can effectively say that sexual assaults on women are partially caused by the way women dress in a culture, yet get a free pass from the Lib Dem feminists because he is attacking the hate-target of women who look after their weight and appearance.
When he says that it is against the “values today” does he really mean that the contest was perfectly acceptable to him in the past, but is not now, and what has changed for him is the fact that other people’s opinions have (supposedly) changed? (which would suggest he just blows in the wind and doesn’t have his own basis to form opinions) – or is he simply saying “We are in a majority now so we can dictate to the subculture that likes this kind of thing.” – an argument that is completely inconsistent with membership in a Lib Dem party that is anything other than a standard centre party. To me that would mean a party which believes that the default answer should be “Yes, you can.”
Wouldn’t it be the case that young womens’ body image and eating disorder problems would actually be improved if they realised that their appearance is actually more like that of the women who in this competition are proven to match actual heterosexual male taste,i.e. for healthy weight (google the winner Kirsty Heslewood), rather than opening women’s magazines and seeing what the fashion industry and media and other women consider to be the ideal?
As “Our Place to Talk” is primarily a channel for one-way communication I don’t really expect an answer, but I would like to ask him if he also has a problem with Mr Gay UK and if not what the difference is.