Tonight is the Miss Universe pageant and competing for the U.S.A. is Rima Fakih, a Lebanese-American Muslim who–along with her fellow contestants–will be giving millions of fasting Muslims a feast of flesh from fabulous Las Vegas. Already the sex appeal in this competition has been vamped up–contestants were body painted this year (not quite Playboy pool party level but enough to spark male interest). Rima’s role is an interesting one in this year’s competition though. She’s a new face of the Middle East most Americans don’t recognize (at least not outside the burka). But as Mona Alami wrote, “the hijab-bikini oxymoron has in fact always been part of the Lebanese landscape. The nation is home to 17 different religious communities and has the largest Middle Eastern Christian presence, which may account for Lebanon’s relative openness.” Few things to point out though. Christians in Lebanon are not the same as Muslims in Lebanon and not all Muslims are the same in Lebanon and Beirut is not the same as, well, most any other city in Lebanon or the Middle East. (Read recent trip notes for detail. And I met plenty of un burka-clad beautiful ”modern” Muslim women!) I want to look at Rima and think good things. I want to look at her and think: modern Muslim woman. But why does she have to be in a bikini for us to notice her? Us being Americans/media etc. It’s like there can’t be a portrait of a modern Muslim woman if she isn’t overcoming some horror in Afghanistan or up on stilettos with her butt hanging out for judges in Las Vegas? I’m not making light of either scenario, I’m simply pointing out that we can’t “see” Muslim women in this country unless they’re covered up, scary, a terrorist or, in Rima’s case, as part of a beauty pageant. Either way it’s a token figure few, if any of us, can relate to. As a modern American woman, I’ve never looked at a beauty contestant as a role model and certainly never a Muslim! Why is that? While I want Rima to win and I do see her role as Miss USA as an important one for Muslim women here and abroad, the fact that her “roving ambassador” role is strictly based on beauty doesn’t do much to progress any one’s mindset. What does that say to little girls in Afghanistan or Iran or Iraq or Lebanon: look at what you can be if only someone else thinks your pretty. In Rima’s case, it’s the judges. For most girls in the Middle East, it’s a husband. It’s not about how smart you are. Or well thought. Or even if you’re a good person. It’s about who wants you and has the power over you. That message is preached again and again in the Middle East by fathers over daughters and husbands over wives. And it’s strictly based on one concept: looks. I was overwhelmed many times on my recent trip to the Middle East by just how obsessive women can be about their looks. They too have pageants and in Lebanon, many “modern Muslim” women you meet are just about as fake as their boobs and hair extensions. I’m not saying American women aren’t as equally self absorbed because we are! Just look at our reality show programs for proof. But I want Muslim girls to have more than singers and pageant winners to look up to in this country and the Middle East. But Rima is a start. And if she wins, I hope she’ll capitalize on more than just her crown winning looks and be the modern Muslim role model we so desperately need! Follow me at: www.chicktalkdallas.com