Here’s why Victoria Kjaer Theilvig’s Miss Universe win has sparked wave of social media reactions

A Danish model was crowned Miss Universe on Saturday, and avid watchers of the famed competition are celebrating the winner being a biological woman following the pageant’s decision permitting transgender women to participate.

Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, 21, was crowned the victor during the 73rd Miss Universe final in Mexico City. The model trounced 120 other contestants in a more traditional competition than 2023 that featured plus-size, married, and transgender women.

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Last year saw a transgender woman from Portugal place in the top 20. Months before the 2023 competition, 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kolle became the first transgender Miss Netherlands.

The pageant was bought out by Thai media mogul Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, a transgender woman and avid supporter of trans rights, so many fans were anticipating another year of departing from the competition’s norm.

“But let’s not overlook the reality here. Beauty pageants were once a celebration of grace, poise, and, yes, natural femininity. Yet, today, it seems the mere notion of a healthy, traditionally beautiful woman embracing this role has become some kind of cultural shockwave. It’s a strange world when the standard becomes the exception, you know?” one user commented on X.

Instead, a biological female was dubbed the winner — and baffled fans took to the Internet to sarcastically gloat.

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“Yes an actual white biological female won the pageant – the World is healing,” one user posted on X.

“Oh look! A woman won Miss Universe this year!” another X user commented.

Even Tesla boss Elon Musk joked about the pageant, posting a caption-less meme.

“Breaking: internet stunned after an attractive biological female human of healthy weight wins Miss Universe pageant,” the picture reads.

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Last year, the pageant revamped its guidelines to promote “social inclusion,” removing the age limit and making it easier for women from nontraditional backgrounds to participate. The move sparked massive backlash and even saw former Miss Universe winners resigning their titles in protest.

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The Miss Universe contest had its first transgender participant, Spain’s Angela Ponce, in 2018. Top executives of the competition were caught between a rock and a hard place last year after a conversation about how women from nontraditional backgrounds simply “cannot win” the pageant.

“The trans women, the women with husbands, divorced women… This is a communication strategy, because, you understand… they can compete, but they cannot win. We just put the policy out there. Social inclusion, as people would say,” Jakrajutatip said in the leaked video.