Miss England contest: Could the swimwear parade return?

There's been some debate around whether the Miss England swimwear round is outdated or a way of embracing body positivity

The swimwear parade for the Miss England beauty pageant was scrapped in 2009 after a campaign by former contestant Katrina Hodge.

The serving soldier argued it was "degrading" and she was fed up of the focus being on her bikini snaps rather than her charity work.

Now organisers of the competition have said they're considering whether or not to bring back the swimwear round.

And that possibility is causing a fair bit of debate online.

The "beach beauty" round still exists but it's not compulsory - and rather than contestants parading on stage in their swimwear, they have the option to take part in a swimwear photo shoot.

Miss England bosses have opened up the debate on their Instagram account, asking followers and current semi-finalists to help them make the final decision.

Director Angie Beasley told BBC Newsbeat that they are looking at all the options - scrapping the round completely, keeping it as a photoshoot or bringing back an "optional" parade.

Body positivity or degrading?

Abigail Hill, 31, is a plus-size model and former Miss England contestant who credits pageants for helping her fall in love with her body.

"When I first started competing in pageants, I found them quite nerve-racking but once I did my first swimsuit round my whole mindset just changed," she says.

"I felt really empowered, really confident. It was a really big part of me becoming a lot more body confident than I was in my early teens.

"I think for me I keep in mind they're not actually judging me on my size or appearance, it's more to do with just how confident and happy you are to be on stage."

For Abigail, it's vital that women of all backgrounds, shapes and sizes are represented

Even though Abigail, who's from Northumberland, enjoys strutting her stuff in her swimsuit, she thinks it's important that pageants remain accessible to all contestants.

"If Miss England wants to bring back swimwear I think it should be a photoshoot or an optional fashion show," she says.

"So that girls, who maybe for religious reasons or just don't feel comfortable in swimwear, aren't missing out on the rest of the experience."

That's something 18-year-old Fatima Bobra from Leicester agrees with.

She's previously competed in a Miss Teen Great Britain competition and proudly wore her hijab in every round.

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Fatima feels "the best idea" would be to scrap the idea of a swimwear round.

"To some extent, it's obviously what is traditional in a beauty pageant, something that's been around for years," she says.

"But now I think that it is time for a change.

"I think [Miss England] should make the rules so that girls that are Muslim, or just aren't comfortable showing their bodies, are able to wear modest swimwear.

"It would be a game changer and would break down another barrier for Muslim women."

Fatimah says having a modest swimwear round would be a "game changer"

But some contestants would prefer the debate to be focusing on women's achievements rather than their bodies and clothing.

For 27-year-old aerospace engineer and reigning Miss England, Jessica Gagen, the competition is all about "female empowerment".

"A role model's qualities don't boil down to what they look like," she says.

Jessica says competitions that come under the beauty pageant umbrella are "more of a role model contest" these days.

She feels the contests "celebrate beauty in its many different forms, its shapes and sizes".

"And the girls entering are doing so to boost awareness surrounding campaigns that they're passionate about," she says.

"They encourage all different women to get involved as a form of female empowerment and female representation."

Jessica wants there to be more focus to be on contestant's achievements

Jessica, who lives in Liverpool, did take part in the swimwear photoshoot last year, but says she's now "fed up" about the lack of conversations around the contestant's campaigns.

And she says a swimwear round should not "be made compulsory".

"I don't believe anyone should be forced to show more than what they're comfortable doing.

"My campaign was all about getting girls into engineering careers and boosting the profiles of STEM careers.

"I've got a degree in aerospace engineering which never really gets talked about, yet here we are again talking about the topic of bikinis and women's bodies."

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