Colombe Akiwacu, the Miss Rwanda 2014 beauty pageant winner, is currently making news. The beauty queen is garnering more criticism than praise, thanks to her bikini photos that are making rounds on social media. Akiwacu is among the more than 80 finalists at the on-going Miss Supranational international beauty pageant in Poland, whose grand finale is slated for Friday December 2 in Krynica–Zdrój, Poland.

But that’s not the news, and neither is the fact that it’s the first time a Rwandan contestant is taking part in the now eight-year-old pageant.

On Monday, November 21, contestants competed in the preliminary swimsuit showcase held at the Horizon Resort in Slovakia. 

One by one, they strutted their stuff before the panel of judges, clad in bikinis. This session alone counted for 1/3 of the votes.

Perhaps it’s the weight of the votes carried in this category that prompted the Rwandan contestant to wade straight into uncharted waters –becoming the first Rwandan contestant to wear a bikini at a beauty contest.

In so doing, she apparently broke an unwritten national code of conduct; her critics argued that she had violated the country’s cultural norms by baring it all to the world.

Like is the case whenever such controversy rears up these days, the battle lines were quickly drawn –on social media where both pro and anti-Akiwacu sentiments played out freely.

The bikini has been fraught with controversy from the time it was invented in the mid 1940s.

While proponents viewed the garment as the epitome of women’s freedom, others, like feminists, religious and cultural practitioners, found the degree of exposure degrading to the female body.

Louis Reard, the French engineer who came up with the bikini design in 1946 knew just how much controversy his invention would kick up. He thus named the bikini after Bikini Atoll, a place in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific Ocean where the United States was carrying out its first peace-time nuclear weapons test as part of Operation Crossroads.

The aim of the operation was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships.

Reard hoped that the bikini’s revealing style would create ‘an explosive commercial and cultural reaction’ similar to the nuclear explosions at Bikini Atoll.

As compared to the traditional one-piece swimsuit which came before it, the bikini came across as more revealing and bold.

Therefore, Louis Reard’s hope for ‘an explosive commercial and cultural reaction’ to his invention faced initial hurdles as some countries quickly moved to ban the bikini in public spaces. Even the Vatican declared it sinful.

The first major public event involving the bikini came at the Festival of Britain, a national exhibition held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. The festival was organised by the government to give the British a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of World War II and to promote the country’s contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.

British TV host Eric Morley used the opportunity to organise the Festival Bikini Contest, a beauty contest and swimwear advertising opportunity on the sidelines of the festival.

Warming up to the new prospect, the media soon coined a new name for the Festival Bikini Contest –terming it ‘Miss World’. Picking a cue, Morley quickly registered Miss World as a trademark.

Today, it is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. And this is one of the three most popular beauty contests in the world, the other two being the Miss Universe and Miss Earth pageants.

Kiki Håkansson from Sweden was crowned winner for that first Miss World contest.

But in a clear indication of the controversy surrounding the bikini, Pope Pius XII condemned the winner and the pageant in general. Spain and Ireland, together with other countries with conservative religious beliefs also threatened to withdraw from the pageant.

In 1952, bikinis were banned from the pageant and replaced with more modest one-piece swimwear, before they were again re-instated. But Hakansson still remains the only winner to have been crowned while clad in a bikini.

Rise to popularity

Thanks to mass media (particularly Hollywood films), in which female actors increasingly appeared in these two-piece outfits, the bikini gradually transformed itself from a scandalous itsy-bitsy garment to something ‘cool’ and ‘normal’.

In 1994, the bikini became the official uniform for women’s Olympic beach volleyball. In 1999, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) standardised beach volleyball uniforms, with the bikini becoming the required uniform for women.

The uniform made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia to some mild criticism.

The case for Colombe Akiwacu

Going by this analysis of the bikini’s long journey to wider public acceptance, it becomes clear that in Colombe Akiwacu’s case, controversy and a public outcry were sure things to happen.

The question is –who is wrong and who is right? Better still, was it in order for Colombe to participate in the bikini session where previously Rwandan contestants at similar pageants had not?

Personally I’m pro-Akiwacu and my reasons are simple;

The first is that every time I’m at a hotel in Kigali I’ve seen otherwise decent and respectable bikini-clad ladies plunge into the blue waters of these hotels’ swimming pools, seemingly oblivious to the world of onlookers around them.

Other times, it’s little early teenage girls taking the plunge while their proud parents seated at the edge of the swimming pool look on contentedly while they sip on their fruit cocktails.

If in doubt, head to the Kigali Serena, Marriot, Radisson Blue, The Manor Hotel, Stipp Hotel, Lemigo, or Villa Portofino for at least I’m familiar with their swimming pool areas.

Alternatively, head to Lake Kivu in Rubavu over the weekends.

I don’t think it’s wrong for me to notice a beauty contestant’s curves in a bikini. It’s when I start to covet her and to harbour lewd thoughts in my mind that it becomes a problem.

But it’s not the beauty contestant’s fault.

Public view

Julienne Uwacu, the Minister of Sports and Culture, explains that first, what should be clear is that Akiwacu was not sent to the competition by the country.

She says that since she was invited as an individual, she probably did what she did depending on what the competition required, however, it wasn’t in line with what the Rwandan culture expects.

"I don’t know what the requirements of the competition were but per what was displayed, they were certainly not in line with the Rwandan culture,” she says.

The Minister says that beauty queens who are representing are requested to first check with the requirements needed and decide whether to take part or not, because the crucial point is to respect and preserve our culture.

Vanessa Uwase, the first runner up Miss Rwanda 2015, says that it is hypocrisy to send beauty queens out there to represent the country and then blame them for doing what the competition requires them to do.

She says, "Before being selected to take part in those competitions the rules and regulations are clear and as contestants, we are expected to follow them, so if Rwandans are happy about us taking part and thereafter, blame us for ‘shaming’ our culture because of certain things then I think its pretense,” she says.

Uwase says that the fact that all contestants wore the bikini makes Akiwacu’s choice justifiable, and that it would have only been weird if she was the only one wearing one.

Uwase also adds that people are now blaming her but if she wins, it would be not only her pride but the country as a whole.

"I’m certain that if Akiwacu wins and comes back with the title, all of us will be so proud and it would be our victory as a country, so let’s stop the pretense,” she says.

Dieudonne Ishimwe, the Miss Rwanda pageant organiser, says that Miss Rwanda is based on culture promotion, but people have to know that these competitions differ, especially when it comes to those on the international scene.

 "Sometimes competitions are different, there are those where the contestants represent the country, here you get to respect the country’s values but if its personal that then depends on you as a person,” he says.

He, however, calls upon contestants to respect their values more because culture may change but Rwandan values don’t.

Additional reporting by Donah Mbabazi

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WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON AKIWACU'S BIKINI CONTROVERSY?

I don’t think there is a problem with that. It’s not like she was wearing it on the streets, she was in a beauty contest and that I think is a right place. So, should people wear imishanana at the beach all in the name of culture? We embraced development so let’s not point fingers.

Danny Nanone, musician

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A beauty queen represents our culture, she is like a symbol of what we stand for and with that, I am against what Colombe Akiwacu did. What she did is taboo; what if they tell them that the competition entails going nude, what will happen? I think the Ministry of Sports and Culture should always inspect these competitions to see if the requirements do not clash with our culture before sending representatives. We must reserve our culture, values and dignity.

Wasswa Ferguson, student

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I think a bikini is something you can wear at the beach or wherever it requires to be worn. Every competition has its own rules, that was an international competition and she was supposed to do it. On the side of culture, I think even other countries she was competing with also have their own culture, so I don’t think she was in the wrong.

Patrick Mugisha, model

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Wearing a bikini in a beauty contest doesn’t devalue our culture, so I don’t think that what she did was wrong. Besides, we need to put our country on the international scene in this industry and others, and we cannot do this when we are shying away from certain requirements. I think what Akiwacu did was out of necessity and not with intentions of abusing our culture. 

Tina Uwase, model

editorial@newtimes.co.rw