Reinas and Respect

<-- This is Luisa Fernanda, who was elected the Reina (Queen) of Ambato during the city's annual "fiestas" in early March.

I've been working on a definition of "fiestas" in the Ecuadorian sense: Fiestas: (noun) Any occasion, usually an anniversary or remembrance, at any departmental/organizational/municipal/provincial/national level in Ecuador, which demands special attention by all people involved in that entity-- usually in the form of elaborate parades, special competitions, cancelled work/schooldays, excessive dancing, and ceremonies where wealthy old men give long speeches about how great they are.

The Reina seems to be a "fiestas" centerpiece at nearly all levels of Ecuadorian society. That goes for small occasions (at my University, we have a Reina of the College of Human Sciences and Education) and large occasions (the National Miss Ecuador pageant is the pinnacle of Reina-dom).

At this point, I'm somewhat of an expert on Ecuadorian parades. I've had a lot of my classes cancelled in order to witness the glittery spandex, men-walking-on-stilts, amateur-dance-troupe, high-school-marching-band madness that constitutes these parades. I love them. But without fail, the following words escape my mouth at every parade I attend: "Why are there so many #!%* Reinas?" The first few Reinas are charming-- the girls are obviously living their dream and they'll reminisce about that parade as overweight middle-aged women. I can appreciate that. But after Reina #867, who represents a small neighborhood on the east face of a nearby mountain, I begin to wonder what the power of the Reina really is.

Let's be clear: these are not "scholarship competitions"-- they don't even pretend to be. They're strict beauty contests, where participants are judged according to their physical traits, their chosen costumes/dresses/swimsuits, and how well they are perceived to physically embody the entity electing them (the department, neighborhood, the City of Ambato, etc.).

It should also be noted that these pageants are a big deal. They hold serious cultural weight. My students can tell me more about Luisa Fernanda, the reigning Queen of Ambato, than their elected officials (who they definitely participated in electing, since voting is mandatory here). The Vice-President of Ecuador was the lead judge in the 2011 Fiestas de Ambato Reina Pageant. I repeat-- THE VICE-PRESIDENT took the time to judge a city beauty pageant (city population 300,000). Cross-cultural comparisons are probably not fair, but seriously, what if Joe Biden took the time to do this?

I constantly over-analyze social systems and cultural symbols, which can be somewhat of a burden for me and people who are forced to be around me. In college, an Anthropology Professor once warned that her discipline was a "destroyer of dreams," which basically existed to identify all the insidious underpinnings of things we love. My Ecuadorian peers will generally affirm injustice out loud ("Yes, this is a sexist place." "Racism is a problem here."), but very, very few people are willing to make the leap and identify where that injustice is made visible. So if you love the Reinas and their impressive hair extensions too much, don't read on.

There are there NO female administrators at my University. I'm serious-- NONE-- 0-- out of about 10. This baffles me, since I have plenty of smart, ambitious, and talented female co-workers.

Little girls grow up wanting to be la Reina de Ambato. She represents the pinnacle of femininity, and more than that-- I would suggest she is the most respected woman in Ambato. What did she do to garner that respect? Give selflessly to other people, work on behalf of the city, think/do/ feel? No. She met the unreasonable and racist physical beauty standards of an all-male judging panel. (I say racist because the Reinas de Ambato have historically been white or light-skinned mestizo-- you'll note that Luisa is a rare blond haired/green-eyed Ambateña-- which is openly valued as being more beautiful. 2011 was the first year in history there has even been a black candidate for Reina-- it created quite a stir). Then, the way our city honors her is parading her down the street on a glittery float so that she can be further evaluated for beauty by the general populous, and whistled at by my dude friends.

I'm not criticizing the Reinas themselves. I bet Luisa Fernanda is a genuinely awesome human being. I am criticizing the cultural symbol of the Reina, and the weight it holds here in Ambato. Machismo not only implies that men have the power advantage in social/economic/health/etc spheres, but that women are confined to pretty little boxes. I feel that box, too. I feel it when I get dressed for work, and remember the comment I heard about a female coworker: "she dresses like she doesn't have any self-respect." I feel it when male higher-ups at my job usurp my ideas and repackage them as their own (another story for another day). The Reina is like the ultimate embodiment of that pretty little box that so many women are trying to fight against. Maybe we should stop trying to be Reinas and demand true equality and respect.