Muslim's Clothing & Beauty Pageants

One of the in class presentations last week was about the clothing codes of Muslim, and how conservative they are compared to modern clothing codes that are practiced elsewhere. The issue of clothing codes is depicted in Persepolis, where Marjane explicitly questions the use of veil and long clothes. Rewinding back to the presentation, I suddenly remembered a strongly correlated controversy about Muslim's clothing code that recently happened in my home country Indonesia.

As you all may (or may not) know, the most recent Miss World beauty pageant is held in Bali this year. It was held last August, and 127 contestants from countries all over the world competed in the event. The Indonesians are very proud on getting elected as the hosting country for the huge international event. However, One of Indonesia's most influential Islamic groups is urging the government to cancel the Miss World pageant scheduled for next month, saying the exposure of skin by women in a competition violates Muslim teachings. Despite that, the Islamic groups finally agrees after this year's Miss World complies to not have swimsuits that are overly revealing shown on stage.

Vanellope Von Sweetz: But Michelle, isn't Bikinis very commonly seen everywhere? I don't understand why your country is making such a big fuss about this swim suit thing...

Michelle: I know... But again, this is religious codes we are talking about. We can't say that it's right or wrong, its just there for a reason...

Vanellope Von Sweetz: So how did this year's Miss World go?

Michelle: It went well off-course, only that the competition is done with proper and decent clothing. It's not a big deal. But it's a change in history since most beauty pageants especially usually require women to use body fitting attires. 

Vanellope Von Sweetz: Hah! I bet the rating went down because most guys would not watch this year's competition!

Michelle: ... Okay Vanellope that's enough, bed time!