Director: Jasleen Kaur Sethi
Release Year: 2016
"Miss Transgender: Britain's New Beauty Queens" (2016), directed by Jasleen Kaur Sethi, is a powerful observational documentary that immerses viewers in the intimate, joyful, and painful realities of being transgender in modern-day Britain. Against the backdrop of the country's first national transgender beauty pageant, the film follows three trans women, Fay, Courtney, and Jai, each with deeply personal motivations for entering the competition. Their journeys reveal the intersections of beauty, identity, survival, and hope, and they underscore just how multi-layered the transgender experience is.
This isn't your average glitzy pageant coverage. Instead, the documentary functions as both a mirror and a megaphone, reflecting what it's like to be a young trans woman in Britain today, while amplifying the community's need for recognition, safety, and dignity. We follow the contestants through all stages of the competition, from the early heats scattered across the UK to the glamorous final in London. But even more significantly, we follow them in their everyday lives, where real battles are fought far from the catwalk. Fay, a 28-year-old from Newcastle, is one of the few post-operative contestants in the pageant. She has her eyes on the £5,000 prize money, not for fame or frivolity, but to fulfil a personal dream: becoming a mother. Before transitioning, Fay froze her sperm, hoping that one day she could start a family through surrogacy. With the clock ticking and the financial barriers steep, winning the pageant could be the lifeline she needs. Fay’s story challenges the simplistic narratives about trans lives and motherhood, highlighting the deep emotional and logistical complexities faced by those who transition.
Courtney’s story unfolds at the gritty intersection of gender identity and economic survival. Having worked as an escort and webcam performer since her teens, she now aspires to leave the sex industry behind. Through the competition, she seeks not just transformation but redemption, a public rebranding of sorts. For Courtney, winning would mean not just a crown but a chance to be taken seriously, to rewrite the narrative society has written for her. She also wants to use the platform to speak out about how trans women often get funneled into sex work due to stigma and lack of opportunity. Then there’s Jai Dara Latto, a 22-year-old make-up artist and activist from rural Scotland. Jai has been living as a woman for only two months when she enters the pageant, and she’s perhaps the most vulnerable of the three. At this early stage of her transition, she struggles with physical dysphoria and confidence issues, still needing to stuff her bra and shave her face daily. But her hunger for visibility is palpable. Winning the pageant becomes a symbol of transformation, a tangible marker that she is becoming the woman she’s always known herself to be.
The competition itself includes traditional rounds like formal-wear catwalks, talent showcases, and Q&A sessions, but with a distinctly trans-centered twist. Organisers claim their goals are multifaceted: they aim to raise money for LGBT+ charities, promote role models within the trans community, and create a platform for voices that are too often pushed to the margins. Jai ultimately wins the title of Miss Transgender United 2015, describing it as a life-changing experience. Her victory is a moment of validation not just for herself but for the many young trans people watching who see themselves in her. As contestant Natasha Scott told The Independent, what she really loved about the event was not just raising awareness, but celebrating the community. Yet the documentary doesn’t shy away from controversy. The pageant, and by extension, the film, sparked a fierce debate within the trans community. Some critics, like journalist and activist Jane Fae, argue that beauty pageants are inherently sexist, encouraging contestants to conform to patriarchal standards of femininity. Others questioned the ethics of the pageant's prize package, which included a voucher for full gender reassignment surgery. For many, the idea that healthcare, especially such essential, life-affirming care, could be awarded as a prize was deeply troubling.
Jess Bradley from Action For Trans Health articulated these concerns, writing that access to hormones, surgeries and other transition-related treatments are basic, necessary and life-saving, not prizes akin to a cruise or an open-top car. Making them prizes, she argued, makes basic healthcare needs seem like luxuries. Indeed, the documentary arrives at a time when Britain’s trans healthcare system is under increasing scrutiny. With long NHS waitlists, high rates of mental health struggles, and a rise in anti-trans rhetoric in mainstream media, the stakes for visibility and access couldn’t be higher. The documentary acknowledges these realities without becoming didactic, allowing the women's stories to carry the message. “Miss Transgender: Britain's New Beauty Queens” is not without flaws, but its strength lies in its unflinching honesty and emotional depth. It offers an essential portrait of trans lives as lived, not theorized, not sensationalized, but grounded in real experiences. It challenges viewers to consider what beauty, gender, and dignity truly mean when the stakes are survival and self-actualization. Whether you see the pageant as a celebration or a contradiction, Jasleen Kaur Sethi’s film ensures one thing: these women will not be ignored. They are stepping out of the shadows and onto the stage, not just for a crown, but for their rightful place in society.
Image credits: Vimeo
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