Miss Papua New Guinea has been stripped of her crown after sharing a video of herself twerking on TikTok, with critics saying the incident reveals a deep-seated culture of misogyny in the country.
Lucy Maino, 25, who has also served as co-captain of the Papua New Guinea women’s soccer team, faced intense online harassment after sharing a video of herself twerking on the video sharing app TikTok .
While twerked videos are common in the application, Maino’s now-deleted video was singled out by critics who said it was inappropriate for a “role model” to share a video of herself dancing in this manner.
The video was downloaded from her private account and shared on social media platforms and YouTube, where thousands of people gathered to criticize Maino.
After the video and the response to it, Maino was “relieved” of her duties this week by the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG (MPIP PNG) committee.
“Our main goal is women’s empowerment. We are a unique pageant-style platform that promotes cultural heritage, traditional values and the sharing of information about our land and our people through tourism, ”the committee said in a statement. “MPIP PNG promotes the virtues of self-confidence, self-esteem, integrity and community service with a parallel focus on education.”
Allan Bird, the governor of East Sepik and co-chair of the Coalition of Parliamentarians against Gender-Based Violence, denounced Maino’s online harassment, writing on social media: “What kind of society condemns the torture and murder of women, but get upset when a young woman makes a dance video? “
A former Miss PNG, who did not want to be named, said the incident showed deep-seated misogyny in the country.
“I’m sure a male public figure has done a TikTok , we would all laugh or even praise him, ”she said.
Maino received a football scholarship that enabled her to complete a degree in business administration from the University of Hawaii. She represented Papua New Guinea as the co-captain of the 2019 national team and won two gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa.
She was crowned Miss Papua New Guinea in 2019 – a role where she acted as the country’s cultural ambassador and advocate for women – in 2019. She continued in the role for another year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many people criticized the committee for not supporting Maino after being attacked for the video.
A women’s attorney, who declined to be named for fear of being targeted by the people who harassed Maino online, said: “The commission could have handled it better by first outlining the clause she violated as reigning queen. “That they threw her under the bus and didn’t give her a chance to come out and talk. That’s not the way to go.”
The United Nations in Papua New Guinea expressed their displeasure through a statement on Facebook: “We see the devastation of violence against women and children in this beautiful country. Some have lost their lives because of bullying … It starts with telling women to hide. It starts with telling women not to dance like that. “
The Guardian approached Maino and the MPIP PNG Committee for comment, but they did not respond at the time of publication.