Using pageants to promote women's rights

When Emily Sullivan was in primary school she was ridiculed for her looks and often asked out by boys as a joke.
 
“I didn’t grow up with the most friends – a lot of guys were mean to me. Often it was just to get a reaction and carried on into my teenage years,” she said.
But now the 22-year-old is a strong feminist who uses beauty pageants to fight for women’s autonomy over their bodies.
 
Looking back, the Wainoni resident said while the bullying hurt her, it has helped her develop a thick skin and appreciation for who she is. Her strong views and confidence has seen her named the New Zealand delegate for the Miss Global Organisation. Sullivan, a performer and Anytime Fitness Rangiora personal trainer, will travel to Mexico next year to represent NZ at the international beauty contest.
 
“I am so flipping excited,” she said. She was named the New Zealand delegate on Saturday at the Miss Five Crowns New Zealand competition. She earned the title after coming in the top 15 at the World Supermodel Pageant in Fiji earlier this year.
 
The competition raised $15,000 for Youthline. Sullivan will need to raise $2000 for her entry fee to the competition in Mexico.
 
Having raised $3000 for Youthline two years ago through her beauty pageant work, Sullivan described its work as “critical”, particularly in light of the mental health issues the city is dealing with today.
 
She said “thousands and thousands” of people called Youthline following the March 15 attacks and it is a “cornerstone” of the community. While beauty contests have often come under fire for encouraging women to measure their self-worth through their physical attributes, for Sullivan it is more than a modelling competition.
 
She has used her platform to discuss feminism and women’s right to abortion. “Often what people don’t realise is it is a huge decision for women to make. Women should have the right to choose what they want to do with their body.”
 
Last year, the 22-year-old challenged National Party leader Simon Bridges at a community meeting in Taupo over why he hadn’t taken abortion out of the Crimes Act 1961.
 
While her challenge received backlash, Sullivan does not regret using her position to stand up for what she believes in.
 
A National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art graduate, Sullivan first got into beauty pageants two years ago to help her with her stage confidence.
 
Never expecting her pageant career to take off in her first competition, she was named Miss Five Crowns South Island two years ago.
 
Sullivan believes the reason beauty pageants often get a bad name is because women are sometimes sexualised and many believe the contests encourage anti-feminism.
 
She said the problem is women will often get into beauty pageants for the wrong reasons and will get lost in physical aspects of the competition rather than using it as a platform to discuss important issues.
 
“You have got to have substance, you have to dig deep,” she said.
 
While Sullivan’s views on feminism have grown, small issues such as being told she couldn’t play bullrush because she was girl “ignited a flame” in her as a child.
 
But she said the issues she has faced are minor compared to what others experiences with human trafficking and domestic violence.