A beauty queen from Denmark has been crowned Miss Universe – and onlookers are already using the occasion to sarcastically celebrate the winner being a biological woman.
Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, 21, assumed the honor Saturday evening, following an extravagant display at the 73rd Miss Universe final in Mexico City.
She beat out more than 120 other contestants to do so, after the 2023 competition featured married, plus-sized, and transgender contestants.
This year’s was more traditional, despite the pageant recently being bought by a Thai media mogul who’s a fierce campaigner for transgender rights.
Prior to that, the contest faced criticism for what many painted as an outdated view of beauty, leading to the first trans woman, Portugal’s Marina Machete, to place in the top 20 last year.
Months before, 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kolle successfully became the first trans person to be crowned Miss Netherlands.
Angela Ponce, the first trans woman to compete at Miss Universe, paved the way for them a few years earlier when she became the first openly trans woman to be crowned Miss Spain.
The shifting values seemed to sway the response seen Saturday night, where many joked they were surprised to see a non-transgender victor.
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‘BREAKING: Fans shocked after straight, white, biological woman wins Miss Universe 2024,’ wrote popular political commentator Matt Wallace to his more than two million followers.
‘Reality just made a comeback! Congrats, Denmark!’ added another.
‘The tides are turning the woke virus is on the run. Hold the line,’ said someone else.
And another added: ‘Return to normalcy.’
Most of the responses appeared to be have made in jest, as discourse continues to swirl around the sanctity of certain all-female contests.
Controversies surrounding Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender activist now notorious for her partnership with Bud Light, and gold-medal-winning boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria come to mind.
Mulvaney was born a male but has since transitioned to being a woman, while Khelif was falsely labeled as transgender by far-right activists.
Khelif was assigned female at birth and it says so on her passport, but she was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing unspecified and transparent eligibility tests.
Outcry has come from conservatives like soon-to-be President Donald Trump and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni since, centered around the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) threshold for fighter eligibility.
Both politicians have pointed to inconsistencies between the sport’s governing body and the IOC, after the IBA – one of boxing’s sanctioning bodies – disqualified Khelif from the final of the 2023 world championships due to ‘high levels of testosterone’ in her system.
The circumstances of that disqualification have since come under scrutiny, as Khelif has filed a lawsuit against the French media for reports claiming the 25-year-old has XY (male) chromosomes, while calling it all ‘a big conspiracy’.
She went on to win Olympic gold amid the gender eligibility row, whereas Mulvaney – around this time last year – was controversially named ‘Woman of the Year’ by British magazine Attitude.
The London-based publication presented Mulvaney with the title at an awards show in October of 2023, leading to a lengthy speech.
‘Some see me as the woman of the year, some see me as a woman of a year and some change,’ Mulvaney, 27, said at the time.
‘And some people don’t see me as a woman at all.’
She went on to remark how she only ‘publicly came out online 560 days ago.’ before rocketing to fame thanks to her TikTok series ‘Days of Girlhood’, which tracked her transition.
She went on to gush about how she was ‘grateful’ the award was being given in the U.K. rather than the US, before referencing the then brewing backlash over a subsequent endorsement from Bud Light.
‘I came to London on holiday this summer after months of feeling isolated and when I arrived, I didn’t feel that baggage that I was carrying back in the US,’ Mulvaney said at the time.
‘And I didn’t feel like the trans beer girl… I romanticized this country as a safe place.’
The ‘baggage’ she had referenced came in the form of disapproval from American audiences turned off by the concept of a transgender woman gracing the cans of their favorite beer.
Similar hesitance was seen Saturday from fans of the Miss Universe pageant, which was bought by Thai businesswoman and transgender advocate Anne Jakkapong Jakrajutatip for $20 million last year.
The first woman to own the pageant, she welcomed multiple transgender contestants to the competition last year, Machete and Kolle – with the latter becoming the first trans woman to be crowned Miss Netherlands in July 2023.
The former, meanwhile, did well enough to make it to the finals, before losing out to Theilvig’s predecessor, Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua.
A few weeks earlier, Machete, a 29-year-old flight attendant, thanked supporters for the ‘positive and empowering’ messages she received after being named ‘Miss Portugal’.
‘To all of you watching, I just want to say that, just like the universe, your possibilities in life are limitless,’ she said in a video posted Instagram at the time. ‘So don’t limit yourself to any dream that you have.’
Kolle would add in her own post within a few day, ‘Yes I’m trans and I want to share my story but I’m also Rikkie – and that’s what matters to me.
‘I did this on my own strength and enjoyed every moment,’ she further insisted.
She also revealed that like Mulvaney, she’s been subject to hate speech because of her background.
‘I thought we were really accepting … in the Netherlands, but the hate comments show the other side of our society. I hope that’s a wake-up call,’ she told Reuters at the time.
‘For now, I fully ignore it. I focus on the good things coming my way.’
The two were the only transgender contestants among the 90 competing last year, with none making it that far this time around.
However, fashion advisor Qatrisha Zairyah, back in September, became the first transgender woman to make it through to the finals of Miss Universe Singapore, but failed to snag a place in Mexico.
Prior to her, Kataluna Enriquez became the first trans woman to compete in the Miss USA pageant after she was crowned Miss Nevada in 2021. She also did not make it to that year’s Miss Universe.
In 2018, Angela Ponce became the first-ever trans woman to earn a spot in the contest when she was crowned Miss Spain.
Debate surrounding the subject has swirled since, with organizers first allowing trans women to compete in 2012.
Only a few transgender competitors have made it to the finals since, with the most recent being Machete.
Victoria, meanwhile, broke down in tears as he name was announced by American host Mario Lopez and former Miss Universe Olivia Culpo.