Victoria Kjaer Theilvig’s Miss Universe win triggers a wave of reactions on social media

A Danish model was crowned Miss Universe on Saturday, and eager viewers of the famous pageant are celebrating that the winner is a biological woman following the pageant’s decision to allow transgender women to participate.

Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, 21, was crowned the winner during the 73rd Miss Universe final in Mexico City. The model revealed 120 other contestants in a more traditional pageant than 2023, which featured plus-size, married and transgender women.

Last year, a transgender woman from Portugal was placed in the top 20. Months before the 2023 pageant, 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kolle became the first transgender Miss Holland.

The pageant was bought out by Thai media mogul Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, a transgender woman and ardent supporter of trans rights, so many fans waited another year to deviate from the pageant’s norm.

“But let’s not overlook the reality here. Beauty pageants were once a celebration of grace, poise and, yes, natural femininity. Yet today, the mere notion of a healthy, traditionally beautiful woman embracing this role seems to have become something of a cultural shockwave. It’s a strange world when the standard becomes the exception, you know?” a user commented X.

Instead, a biological woman was named the winner – and confused fans took to the internet to sarcastically rejoice.

“Yes, a real white biological woman won the contest – the world is healing,” wrote one user on X.

“Oh look! A woman won Miss Universe this year!” another X user commented.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk joked about the competition, posting a meme with no captions.

“Breaking: Internet stunned after attractive biological female human at healthy weight wins Miss Universe pageant,” the image reads.

Last year, the pageant revamped its guidelines to promote “social inclusion”, removing the age limit and making it easier for women from non-traditional backgrounds to participate. The move sparked massive backlash and even saw former Miss Universe winners resigning their titles in protest.

The Miss Universe pageant had its first transgender contestant, Spain’s Angela Ponce, in 2018. The pageant’s top executives were caught between a rock and a hard place last year after a conversation about how women from non-traditional backgrounds simply “can’t win” the pageant.

“The trans women, the women with husbands, divorced women… This is a communication strategy because you understand… they can compete but they can’t win. We just laid out the policy. Social inclusion as people would say,” said Jakrajuta tips in the leaked video.