Activists in Uganda have asked that the “Miss Curvy Uganda” pageant be called off.
Earlier this month the country’s tourism minister Godfrey Kiwanda sparked outrage after announcing that the pageant would help to promote tourism.
“If you see a Munyankole woman the way those curves – they have a story.”
“When you see a Muganda woman concentrating on the waist, the way she does that, there is a story about that and that is the story we sell. That’s the tourism”, said Kiwanda.
Women’s rights activist Eunice Musiime said the pageant may end up encourageing the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls.
“We consider this as something that is dehumanising, degrading and despicable for women because women are not cultural artefacts that can act as tourism product”, said Musiime.
