A Pageant With A Purpose Summary

According to Simon Robinson, of the Time International, in “A Pageant with a Purpose”, the twelve contestants that entered the Miss HIV stigma free pageant were competing to show people from around the world, that this disease does not have to make you different. From Robinson’s view description, the reader can gather ideas that using beauty pageants was not the best way to prove that people infected with HIV do not have to be looked at in a different light. In America, we view beauty queens in a very different manner than we do everyday people. They are setup on stage, given a hair and makeup specialist, and their purpose is to be considered perfect. It would seem that the only thing this pageant would bring is more attention to those with HIV, and not in a positive way. The purpose of

So for this particular pageant where the women have this virus, they are setting the example that in order to be heard by the public, they have to be aesthetically pleasing. As Robinson mentions in his article, the women wanted to show that their true selves aren’t any different than women without the virus, yet in order to show this they first must “dress” their true selves up. They should be able to show that the virus doesn’t have to change their lives without piling on the makeup and hiring professional hair dressers. This not only takes away from their true selves however can also prevent people with HIV wanting to express their true selves. Instead of inspiring those with the virus, as according to Robinson is the exact purpose of the pageant, this can discourage similar people with the virus, and make them feel as though in order to avoid the stigma that has come along with the virus they must make themselves more appealing to the public. This is creating the exact issue that the pageant itself was trying to prevent from