Last night, a new reality show premiered on QTV-11, a local channel in the Philippines. It’s called The Debutante. The show’s tag line is “The search for the ultimate IT girl.” The search revolves around eighteen beautiful girls from different backgrounds with different goals and dreams.
It’s a cool concept for a show. But one thing irks me: all the girls are thin. Sure, they’re not stick thin but there are no plus-sized or voluptuous girls on the show. I don’t know why this is so. I don’t know if this was a conscious choice on the part of the producers and the judges but to the more discriminating viewer, there is something fishy going on.
However, there is one redeeming factor of the show. The criteria is 20% beauty and 80% other factors.
I’ve never been a fan of beauty pageants because I think it glorifies superficial beauty. And now that I’ve finally seen this show, I think it is one looooong, justified beauty pageant. It sends out an unconscious message that only thin girls can be IT girls, whatever an IT girl is. I am pretty sure that there are many girls in the Philippines who are double-digit sized and are as beautiful and as accomplished as the girls on the show.
Maybe this is just my insecure part talking, but I stand by what I know and believe.
