College Tribune | November 12th 2008
News
The return of Miss UCD? ■ Karina Bracken A motion is due to be placed before the Students’ Union council to mandate the Entertainments Officer, Gary Redmond, to run the controversial beauty pageant Miss UCD again this year. However, Campaigns and Communications Vice-President Dan O’Neill has said he will vote against the motion, stating, “I am completely against the union running such an event. We are working with organisations such as Bodywhys, and this pageant, which is unfair, just stands against this kind of work.” “Furthermore, we have a welfare service here in the union which is used by both men and women who find themselves faced with body image concerns. I will be speaking out against this, but if council vote it in there is little more I can do.” he said. The contentious reception of the Miss UCD competition last year has not deterred some of this year’s sabbatical officers from lobbying for its return. The pageant was rejected by some members of the student body who objected to what they saw as the discriminatory nature of the competition. Students who were mothers or under the required height of 5’4” were not eligible for en-
try, according to official Miss UCD rules. Elisa O’Donovan of Students and Staff against Sexism organised last year’s protest against Miss UCD. “We had the Miss UCD debate last year and as a result the Students’ Union knows that many students were deeply offended by them running a pageant.” The group ran an alternative Miss UCD during the event in which an inflatable sheep was crowned winner. O’Donovan believes “that instead of focusing on an archaic exclusionary competition the Students’ Union should be focusing on creating more encompassing and inclusive events that don’t degrade, isolate and offend many members of the student body”. Last year’s winner of the event was 21 year old Ana Pavel, who at the time said “ The Miss UCD Competition is not a sexist competition, and should not be seen as an event where women are depicted as sex objects judged by men. “I feel that it is a celebration of beauty as well as intelligence, a great opportunity to make new friends, and get more involved in the college social life. It is also a very worthwhile experience to learn how to present ourselves in front of a huge crowd and to do some public speaking.” ■ Miss UCD: Last year
was first time the competition was run
LGBT Auditor insists no apology needed for costume ■ Katie Godwin Auditor of the LGBT, Sean Brophy, shocked party goers with his costume at the LGBT Halloween party last Wednesday 29th October when he showed up dressed as an aborted foetus. “It was Halloween, I aimed for a grotesque costume” Brophy responded when questioned about the costume. Brophy says that there was nothing inhumane about his outfit “I was a backstreet abortion” he said. “it was Halloween and as far as I’m concerned Halloween is for celebration of the grotesque and that aims to achieve something grotesque”. The costume consisted of fake blood, and plastic refuge sacks . Fearing that people would not guess that he was dressed as an abortion, Sean also carried around a sign at the party which read “I went to Romania and all I got was this backstreet abortion” to ensure that there was no confusion about his costume. “I got the idea one night when somebody dropped a strawberry dackory in front of me” Brophy revealed. Brophy was accompanied to the party by newly established Bebo group FMIF (F**k Me I’m Fabulous) who all dressed up as the different characters involved in an abortion. This included the doctor who performed the operation, the abortion nurse who helped, the nun who prayed over it and the French maid who tidied up after. Brophy had no comment to make about FMIF. Brophy insisted to that the idea of the abortion had “no political connection whatsoever” and that he purely wanted to achieve the gruesome nature of Halloween. When questioned about the pos-
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Low prices everyday! ■ No apology: LGBT auditor Sean Brophy sibility of costume offending or upsetting anybody about the sensitive issue of abortion he replied; “It crossed my mind but not in an important way…I didn’t actually care really”. He further insisted “ the people who I saw, they totally got the joke about it”. “I mean people dressing up as the joker from Batman, do people say they’re offending the death of Heath Ledger?!” Brophy exclaimed. “Political correction has run amuck” he continued angrily. “I think in this day and age that, if I can stir enough controversy simply by a Halloween costume it just says a little bit too much about the way people are worried about political correction” Although Brophy is the auditor of LGBT and it was the LGBT Halloween party he donned the costume at, he doesn’t feel that he brought any discredit to the society “I wasn’t representing them”, he insisted, “All I had to do was make sure people met up at a certain time and then got home ok, I was just at the party”.
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