Miss Peru pageant contestants share violence against women statistics instead of body measurements

Updated

When it came time for contestants at this year's Miss Peru pageant to give their waist, hip and bust sizes, more than 20 women instead recited facts about trafficking, femicide and harassment.

Leading the protest was Camila Canicoba of Lima who said "my measurements are: 2,202 cases of femicide reported in the last nine years in my country".

The winner, 20-year-old Romina Lozano, said her measurements were "3,114 women victims of trafficking up until 2014", on the most watched show in Peru on Sunday (local time).

"My measurements are: the 65 per cent of university women who are assaulted by their partners," Bélgica Guerra, representing Chincha, said.

"My measurements are: more than 70 per cent of women in our country are victims of street harassment," contestant Juana Acevedo said.

The organisers also projected newspaper clippings of stories about violence against women as the contestants posed in bikinis at a theatre in the capital city, Lima.

The women are hoping to represent Peru in November's 66th Miss Universe competition in Las Vegas.

Miss Peru 2018 organizer Jessica Newton told Buzzfeed: "Everyone who does not denounce and everyone who does not do something to stop this is an accomplice".

"Women can walk out naked if they want to. Naked. It's a personal decision," she added.

"If I walk out in a bathing suit I am just as decent as a woman who walks out in an evening dress."

The protest comes amid a slew of sexual harassment accusations towards film mogul Harvey Weinstein and now House of Cards actor Kevin Spacey.

The allegations towards Weinstein, originally sparked by a New York Times article detailing harassment towards Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, prompted the #MeToo social media campaign.

Thousands of women began sharing their personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse using the #MeToo hashtag.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Meet the woman behind the Me Too campaign (ABC News)

In the weeks that followed, countless numbers of women working in the film industry spoke out, accusing Weinstein of making unwanted advances towards them, and of sexual assault and rape.

Spacey is the latest prominent man in Hollywood to be called out for his behaviour.

Actor Anthony Rapp, best known for starring in the musical Rent and Star Trek: Discovery, said he was invited to a party at Spacey's apartment in 1986 when he was just 14 and said Spacey, then 26, put him on his bed and climbed on top of him at the end of the night.

A second actor has now made a sexual harassment allegation towards Spacey.

Mexican actor Robert Cavazos said he encountered Spacey at the bar of London's Old Vic Theatre where he tried to fondle him against his will.

Reuters/ABC

Topics: arts-and-entertainment, sexual-offences, women, peru

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