Saskia von Bargen, a 19-year-old trans woman from Lower Saxony, is a finalist for Miss Germany.
According to the competition’s organizers, approximately 15,000 women nationwide applied to be the next Miss Germany.
The ten finalists were announced on Tuesday. The 19-year-old Saskia von Bargen is a trans woman who lives with her parents as well as three younger sisters in the village of Friedrichsfehn, Lower Saxony.
“My parents recognized early on that this was not just a phase,” says the 19-year-old, who thanks her parents for their early support. At school, however, things were not always easy; she wore boys’ clothes to avoid bullying.
Von Bargen began taking puberty blockers at the age of 11, followed by feminizing hormone therapy two years later.
This is also when she came out at school, which made her life easier and made her feel more accepted. Von Bargen had gender surgery when she was old enough. Her chosen name is Saskia.
Winning a beauty pageant used to be synonymous with having attractive features and the ability to walk like a runway model.
Miss Germany Studios, the company that organizes the national pageant, has, however, drastically altered the judging criteria in an effort to improve the contest’s image.
But sociologist Nina Degele from Freiburg University is left unimpressed by the competition’s makeover and considers the Miss Germany format outdated.
In order to be relevant, she believes “the format would have to be abolished and replaced by something completely different.”
