Accessing Womanhood: Jenna Talackova and the Marking of a Beauty Queen

Abstract

In March 2012, Jenna Talackova was disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada pageant on the grounds that she was not a “naturally-born” female. Following this decision, Talackova and the media contested her exclusion, and Miss Universe allowed her to compete. This manuscript examines the ways that Talackova’s gender performance challenges notions of who can compete as a “true” woman while it simultaneously supports cisnormative understandings of the constitution of preferred womanhood. In their framing, media outlets articulate three markers of preferred womanhood: bodily markers, legal markers, and beauty markers. These three themes situate access to womanhood as contingent upon physical and legal markings, thereby using the narrative about Talackova to both challenge and reify gender norms.