Greener Feminist Pastures: 'Miss Sweden' Cancelled After "Feminist Harassment"

"Feminists forced me to cancel. I was surprised that in a country as far developed and as liberated as Sweden women's rights movements receive so much attention in the media regarding an issue like this." -- Panos Papadopoulos


Granted, they haven't put an end to rape, domestic violence, or war, but still . . . it does me good to know that Feminists have some clout somewhere.

Swedish "Bikini King" and CEO, Panos Papadopoulos has submitted to the will of the Feminists.

There will be no Miss Sweden beauty pageant, or "glitzy girlfest", this year. Consequently, there will be no Swedish contestant in the Miss Universe pageant.

Meanwhile, back in America, more than 200 national women's organizations representing over ten million women continue to work on the little project of getting the Augusta National Golf Club to stop discriminating and let women play with the men. This project is now entering its third year.

But back to those greener feminist pastures, I'm posting the entire story here as well as a grumbling comment about the power of Swedish Feminists that I find particularly satisfying.

Miss Sweden cancelled after "feminist harassment"

The organiser of the annual 'Miss Sweden' beauty pageant has been forced to cancel this year's contest following "harassment from feminist groups". The decision means that Sweden will not be sending a delegate to the global 'Miss Universe' event - for the first time since it was inaugurated in 1952.

Panos Emporio, the Scandinavian swimwear company which bought the rights to run Miss Sweden from TV3 last year, says it will try to find a formula that is acceptable "to most people in society" in time for next year's event."

Feminists forced me to cancel," said Panos Papadopoulos, the chief executive of Panos Emporio and self-proclaimed 'bikini king'. "I was surprised that in a country as far developed and as liberated as Sweden women's rights movements receive so much attention in the media regarding an issue like this."

Papadopoulos declined to name the specific feminist organisations which had pressured him into cancelling Miss Sweden but he told The Local that he had received negative calls and messages of a personal nature."

It's impossible to talk to these people," he said.

Nevertheless, Papadopoulos said that he has been encouraged by an equally strong response from those who support the event."

This has created a big reaction - and whether they like something or dislike something Scandinavians don't often react. But for the first time since I came to Sweden 25 years ago I've had a lots of people contacting me saying they are disappointed that we had to cancel Miss Sweden."

Panos Emporio sponsored Miss Sweden for 15 years before buying it outright for an undisclosed sum last year. Papadopoulos said that the goal was to give back the competition "its original high status".

Despite this setback, Papadopoulos told The Local that he is not giving up. He said that his company is working behind the scenes "to create something new and astonishing" but he acknowledged that he was surprised by the negative feeling towards the glitzy girlfest."

I could understand this kind of reaction in an Arabic country," he said. "But not in Sweden - particularly considering what you see on TV here every day.

Sweden's main feminist groups were unavailable for comment.


Comment:

Anonymous 22nd April 2005 12.28 Report Comment

So the wrinkly old feminists have won out again? What a damn shame! Don´t they realize these pageants are all about beauty, posture, poise, grace under pressure and speeches about world peace? Nobody wants to denigrate the image of women in general as being anything other than strong, independent and capable!

In my humble opinion, the opposition from these whining "prominent feminist groups" comes from the fear of the power of female beauty. In this example, Sweden´s feminazis share a frontier with northern Nigeria's religious zealots, (the same ones who succeeded in ruining the last "Miss World" pageant). They want to enfeeble female beauty by covering up those who possess it. Are beautiful women to wear sackcloth and ashes - or burquas - to keep feminists happy? Such a shame, since Sweden has so many talented, intelligent and beautiful women who stand a real chance of being the next "Miss Universe."