Response to UOB Hottest Single article

UoB’s Hottest Single competition- article in response

On International Women's Day, of all days, I came across the TAB's 'UoB's Hottest Single' competition after it was shared on Fab n' Fresh. The concept is simple: nominate your attractive single friends, after which heats are created and students can vote for an ultimate winner. For most students, this process is nothing but a bit of fun, a self-esteem boost for the competitors, and a chance to check out some potential romantic partners. However, the unsettling feeling I experienced upon seeing these posts became too difficult to ignore, and chatting to my friends revealed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. Perhaps then, the time has come to question whether we really need these pageant-esque competitions in our lives, setting the standards of attractiveness. 

The really damaging aspect of this competition is not what it includes, but rather, what it leaves out. Aside from a few exceptions, all nominees fit into the category of white and heterosexual (or at least not specified as otherwise.) They're predominantly female, and in the case of the few male participants, the identifying images are of a noticeably lower graphical quality (in some cases- you can hardly make out the guy's face!) As a result, all eyes are on the females, in a layout that seems to reflect- however far-fetched this might sound- an online representation of the male gaze. In any case, the images of the nominees seem to send the message that even in vibrant, diverse, multi-cultural Birmingham- there's only one subset of people who can be considered desirable.

Of course, I am not ignorant to the fact that the majority of voters will not have been creepy guys fawning over girls, but people voting for their friends as a way of encouraging confidence and body positivity. But with that being the case, why is there a need to specify the competition as searching for UoB's hottest 'single'? That one word seems to hold several damaging implications, including the importance of being desirable towards others (specifically men), and the embarrassment associated with not being in a relationship. There's an implied reaction encouraged behind this competition, along the lines of -can you believe that all of these attractive people are actually single?- which carries with it the hidden assumption that to be single is to be undesirable- ugly even- and that being in a relationship equals validation.

In fact, the very nature of a competition is a problematic concept, as there can only be one winner, meaning that inevitably- everyone else is a loser. Sure, you might have made it onto the shortlist of the 'hottest' students, but ultimately, you just weren't hot enough. And what about the people who didn't get nominated? The people who don't have the confidence, the connections, or perhaps the conventional body image to ever make it onto such a site? This is a competition that promotes body positivity, BUT only for an elite few, whilst everybody else suffers the blow of not being good enough.

When one Brumfess user described the competition as 'a bit f****** wierd', the TAB were quick to ridicule the comment as indicative of jealousy at not being nominated. But I have to agree with that anonymous individual: it is weird. Having your Facebook timeline spanned with images of strangers that you are being asked to rank on attractiveness alone, is weird. Reading comments from intelligent third years describing this competition as their sole source of confidence is, (whilst arguably tongue-in-cheek), still really weird. Indeed, with the modern media working so hard to challenge the ethics of pageants, for example the recent Netflix original film Dumplin, it's disappointing to see a similar thing appearing on UoB's social media pages.

The fact is, we work so hard to promote body positivity, that competitions like this have the potential to send us skyrocketing countless steps back again. If the process was intended to provide a confidence boost, perhaps there are better ways to go about it than showcasing a very specific selection of people, before asking for them to be ranked on desirability. Instead, maybe we can ditch the competitions altogether, and if we're really that desperate to find out who is single and who isn't- go down the old fashioned route and just ask.