Twerking has proven to be costly for Miss Papua New Guinea, who has purportedly been stripped of her crown for sharing a video of herself on TikTok.
According to a report in The Guardian, 25-year-old Lucy Maino – who has also served as co-captain of Papua New Guinea’s women’s football team – had to face quite a lot of online flak when she shared a video of herself twerking on the video-sharing app TikTok.
While posting of twerking videos are common online, and especially on the app, Maino’s now-deleted video was singled out by some people, who claimed it was unbecoming for a “role model” to share a video of herself “dancing in this way”.
In a gross violation of her rights, the video – which she had shared on her private account – was downloaded and then shared on other platforms like YouTube, where several other people watched and then criticised her.
The Guardian report states after the video was made public, and the backlash that she had received for it, Maino was “released” from her duties by the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG (MPIP PNG) committee this week.
In a statement, the committee said: “Our core purpose is empowerment of women. We are a unique pageant style platform that promotes cultural heritage, traditional values and sharing through tourism about our country and people. MPIP PNG promotes the virtues of confidence, self-worth, integrity, and community service with a parallel focus on education.”
Per the report, some critics, however, have condemned this, stating that the incident exposes a “deep-seated culture of misogyny” in the country. Allan Bird, the governor of East Sepik and the co-chair of the Coalition of Parliamentarians against Gender-Based Violence, denounced this online harassment, writing on social media: “What kind of society condemns the torture and killing of women, yet get upset when a young woman does a dance video?”
A former Miss PNG, who did not wish to be named, was also quoted by The Guardian as saying: “I am sure if a male public figure did a TikTok, we would all be laughing or even praising him.”
On her part, Maino, however, took to Instagram to clarify that while “some have implied that the crown was taken” from her, “that is not the case”.
“Instead, in agreement with the Pageant Committee, I completed my service as Miss PNG Pacific Islands 2019-2020. I thank the Pageant Committee, partners and sponsors to the pageant, as well as the many who have supported me; The PNG Special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence, The United Nations in Papua New Guinea, and especially my sponsor, Paga Hill Estate. I also want to thank the many people who have reached out to me in the past few weeks with messages of encouragement and support,” she wrote.
Maino was crowned Miss Papua New Guinea – a role involving acting as a cultural ambassador for the country and an advocate for women – in 2019. She had to continue for an additional year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report states.
The United Nations in Papua New Guinea, have also expressed their dissatisfaction on Facebook: “While constructive criticism and dissenting views are legitimate, bullying is NEVER acceptable in any form: neither digital or in-person. We see the devastation of violence against women and children in this beautiful country. Some through bullying have lost their lives.”