Transsexual — Qualified for Beauty Contest or Not?
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Is sex by birth a qualification for a beauty pageant?
It appears not, as a male-turned-female transsexual has passed the preliminary stage of the 2009 Super Model Contest.
Choi Han-bit, 23, was among 50 participants selected from a list of 1,200 candidates at the preliminary stage of the contest on July 2. She still has to pass another preliminary on July 28 to be included in the final selection, but if she does, Choi will be Korea's first transsexual super model.
A dance major at the Korea National University of Arts, Choi underwent a sex change operation in 2006, and was legally recognized as a woman by a court. She also changed her name from Han-jin to Han-bit.
After grabbing the public's attention, she said on her blog, "This is only the beginning. I have not lived in a vain hope. I just believed that I can be happy and I can do it."
But cyber world is divided on Choi's selection in the preliminary.
Some Internet users, including several unsuccessful contestants at the preliminary, say that a person who has artificially changed sex should not be allowed in the beauty contest.
They claimed it is not right for a transsexual, who has obtained a female body artificially, to take part in the contest that evaluates appearance.
But many others supported Choi, saying she is just the same as other "real female" contestants who underwent plastic surgery. They left messages on her blog, saying, "You made a courageous choice," and "I saw a picture of you before having the sex change operation, and you were beautiful then as well."
SBS MediaNet, the host of the pageant, said the sex change does not conflict with the contest's rules because her legal sex is female.
It also said that Choi disclosed to other contestants that she is a transsexual.
In 2005, before undergoing the sex change operation, she appeared in a television show as a man who was disguised as a woman.
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Please stay on topic.
jimbo1a (59.20.215.239)
07-17-2009 22:08
John, you obviously haven't had to sit near too many Korean men in planes or be stuck next to them in an elevator. The kimchi breath is pretty strong. As far as homosexual lifestyles go, I am certain it is at least as bad here as it is in any western nation. I mean, where else do you see men walking around holding hands, arms around each other, etc.?
john777 (70.19.166.253)
07-17-2009 21:20
"If you don't want to hear about it, then why did you read the article, I mean the headline clearly states what it's about." I read articles about gruesome murders because of the need to know about current events, but at the same time, I prefer that these murders didn't happen and that transexuals didn't put themselves in the spotlight.
john777 (70.19.166.253)
07-17-2009 21:18
"Korean men on the other hand I think in general look far cleaner than most westerners". Yes, it just means most western men have never learned proper hygiene growing up and that's why they smell so much. At the same time, a larger fraction of western men are into homosexual lifestyles. Most Korean men are in the normal range, with masculine attitudes AND proper grooming.
strossus (220.118.147.155)
07-17-2009 19:46
Ah but didn't you know Arch, all people DO start off as women, then hormones turn us into men. If you ahve screwed up testosterone receptors you can be XY, but still grow up as a woman. Come on though englishgeenie, give a little credit to the public schools for screwing up the next generation.
englishgeenie (121.175.162.174)
07-17-2009 17:58
religion is the root of all problems in the world, so stuff your superstition you brain dead fuck./
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