Beauty Queens Behaving Badly: Gender, Global Competition, and the Making of Post-Refugee Neoliberal Vietnamese Subjects

A few fascinating details about this new pageant: (1) both men and women featured in the promotional photographs are seen wearing the ao dai, some complete with traditional headgear; (2) both men and women (single and married) are expected to enhance their fashionable bodies in evening gowns and tuxedos but also bare their bodies in swimwear for the contest; (3) while it is unclear what ages are allowed to compete in the Mrs. Viet Nam Continents Pageant, the cutoff age is twenty-eight for single women and thirty-five for men; finally, (4) the Miss Viet Nam Continents winner is promised $50,000 in cash and prizes, but the title holders for the Mr. and Mrs. pageants will receive considerably less in monetary value, at $30,000 for their respective wins.72 There remains much to explore in these new contests, but in the realm of appearance and beauty women still reign, and their youthful looks and thin bodies are highly prized. [...]Judy Wu, Guísela Latorre, and the editorial team at The Ohio State University took on this project with a positive reception, demonstrating a very smooth transition of the journal.