Miss World beauties defend relevance of contest

　　Miss World contestants united in defending the pageant's relevance and angrily denied it degraded women.

　　
　　Most argued that strutting their stuff in front of more than two billion television viewers did not promote sexism, but instead helped the poor and drew attention to suffering in the world.

"We are not here to show naked bodies. I think all of us are here to fight a cause, some for AIDS, some for abused women," said 23-year-old Miss Malaysia, Gloria Ting.

　　Miss Philippines, Ma Karla Bautista, agreed.

　　"We are not here just to show off beauty, but we're here also to show our purpose. The fact that we're showing off our bodies hasn't changed that," said the 20-year-old.

　　"We're all coming together to share our culture and attributions, to let people know more about our countries, what we're working for. We are here for a cause," she said.

　　For example, she said contestants learned a lot from a lecture given to them by a leading doctor about childbirth injuries among Ethiopian teenage girls who are married off by their families.

　　Last year's winner Rosanna Davison of Ireland said Miss World's fame helped many ambitious and intelligent young women to promote their countries and advance their careers.

　　"Yes, the girls are beautiful, and in some ways it helps them to become representatives and ambassadors of their countries," she said.

　　"It's a wonderful thing to represent your country and it's a huge honour for any young girl ... it gives young women an opportunity to give an opinion on global issues," she said.

　　Davison, daughter of "Lady in Red" singer Chris de Burgh, said she would return to university shortly to continue her studies and was considering a career in television presenting as one of many options.

　Critics of the contest have long ridiculed and attacked it as degrading.

　　In 2002, riots partly inspired by the Miss World pageant left 220 people dead in Nigeria.

　　The riots erupted in religiously-divided Kaduna city after Muslims launched a protest over an article on Miss World in a Nigerian newspaper which many deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.

　　Anger was already running high over the show, which some Muslim leaders had said was offensive and immodest.