MAUREEN CALLAHAN: A trans contestant wins Miss Netherlands. Here’s what women REALLY think

Add beauty pageants to the list of women’s spaces that are no longer, well, women’s spaces.

The new Miss Netherlands, who was crowned on Saturday, is a transgender model named Rikkie Valerie Kollé.

Kollé’s next stop: the Miss Universe pageant, now owned by transgender Thai business magnate Anne Jakrajutatip.

And us biological women are expected to cheer, to be elated by this latest theft.

Check out the faces of the runners-up.

More than a few look like they’re in shock. Justifiably. Women in beauty pageants have every expectation of losing – to another woman. But for a biological man? Who has invaded yet another event that, in its founding and mission statement, is specific to women?

This is not to discredit Kollé himself. She changed her name at age 11, from Rik to Rikkie, and said she was constantly bullied and often came home from school in tears.

Shortly before she was crowned Miss Netherlands, Kollé said that regardless of the outcome, she had already won.

“As a little boy I overcame all things that came my way and now look at me,” she said. “Standing here, as a strong, powerful and confident trans woman. Love is love. Be who you want to be and never forget – always celebrate your pride.”

Kollé is clearly sincere. To argue against her win isn’t to argue against her — it’s to express the very real concern about the eradication of competitions and spaces meant for biological women.

Something to think about: Many women, myself included, are not fans of beauty pageants. I find them humiliating at best, dangerous at worst. They value conventional female beauty over intelligence, talent, ambition – you know, the important stuff, the lasting stuff.

As Judge Judy once said, “Beauty fades. Dom is forever.’

Either way, it’s safe to say that more women than not will be outraged by a biological male crowned beauty queen — an end goal, whatever you think of it, that takes time, money, sacrifice, and discipline.

A goal accompanied by a ticking time clock. There is an all too short period of time before it ages.

Just look at the comments on Kollé’s Instagram. As of Monday, the majority wasn’t too happy.

“We’ve had enough of this bulls**t,” one wrote.

Another: ‘Well done. A man just stole first place from a woman and is applauded for it. We’ve come full circle, we’ve just destroyed 200 years of work for women fighting for equality.’

The Independent Women’s Voice organization issued a statement on Monday disapproving of the new Miss Netherlands.

“This is nothing to celebrate,” they said. “This is a slap in the face to every woman who competed against this biological male in a competition designed SPECIALLY for women.”

Speaking up, as we know, is being smeared as a TERF—a so-called “trans-exclusive radical feminist”—or a bigot.

It’s just another misogynistic bullying tactic.

Really: enough. The Miss Netherlands wins another week in which women have been told that our highly biological systems are not unique to us.

It’s oversimplified and cringed enough for a very small segment of the population determined to shame biological women out of sports, sororities, spaces like shelters, and women-only prisons. Who are determined to erase and co-opt femininity.

Birth? Not just for women anymore.

Breastfeeding? How dare we.

Biology? No more than a construction, dear ones.

In case we didn’t know, it’s not just women who menstruate. The correct term is “menstruator” — according to the female founder of a tampon company who spoke to a submissive Gayle King last week about “this era of transphobia” and being “a proudly gender-inclusive brand.”

What a joke. Let’s talk when biological men express the deep desire to go through menopause.

In fact, in the past week: Healthcare professionals are now being urged to use the terms “front holes” or “bonus holes” instead of “vaginas.”

May I ask, where do we stand with the alternative, non-gender-specific terms for penises? Testicles?

Now what shall we call prostate cancer or testicular cancer?

Why are we not so determined to deny male anatomy or diseases that, due to biology, affect only men?

Here’s another one: Breastfeeding is now “breastfeeding.”

According to an announcement from the Centers for Disease Control last week, biological males can and should be encouraged to “breastfeed” babies and infants — even though the hormones required to cause such an unnatural discharge can, according to the FDA, ” passes into breast milk’ in small amounts and can sometimes give babies an irregular heartbeat.’

Here we are. Even the needs and safety of babies are not above the wishes of trans activists.

That’s what women who are bullied into silence get us: a ridiculous, harmful orthodoxy that doesn’t address dissent. And the entire medical community, which should frankly put the brakes on this, goes along! Orders now come from just one cohort.

And none of this, none of this goes the other way.

We don’t see women demanding to compete athletically against men. We don’t see women demanding to compete in elite male bodybuilding competitions or get caged against male MMA fighters or play in the NFL.

It would be suicide. But men invading women’s spaces – perfectly natural, long ago. Or so we are told.

Take runner Nikki Hiltz, a 28-year-old biological female who identifies as transgender and non-binary.

Hiltz has had no medical procedures and is still an intact bitch. On Saturday, Hiltz placed first at the 2023 USATF Championships in Oregon, their third win in the 1500 meters this year.

Those are victories Hiltz would never achieve against biological men. Despite all the talk of trans pride after Hiltz won, why not discuss the decision to race against other biological women instead of as a trans man?

With each passing day, women are realizing the seriousness of what is happening here, this systematic attempt to treat us into half-creatures whose needs don’t matter, whose protection doesn’t last, and whose unique ability to give birth and survive is minimized. The bond between mother and child, unique in nature and honored since the dawn of mankind, was mocked.

So if you think Miss Netherlands is just a beauty pageant, think again.