Colombia’s got a thing with beauty pageants. Traditionally, these events are tied to promoting agriculture, but the phenomenon has expanded to include donkeys and 7-year-old girls in bikini.

Colombia is a country with one of the greatest number of beauty pageants in the world. The BBC calculated that the Andean country holds 3,794 pageants annually, more than 10 a day.

In every corner of the country, women and girls compete in competitions to become either Miss Colombia, Miss Yucca, Miss Pineable, imagine any tropical fruits and Colombia likely has a beauty pageant for it.

The reason for this is that traditionally regions’ or towns agricultural produce would be celebrated in an annual festival and promoted by the prettiest girl in town.

While scrutinized by feminists for representing demeaning archetypes, Colombia reveres its beauty pageants as an important cultural custom — holding festivals in which girls dress and express the frui ... Read more »