Recently, men's beauty pageants seem to be gaining popularity in South Africa. Although we doubt that the popularity of these pageants is entirely for the right reasons, the Mr South Africa and Mr GayWorld pageants both show that South African men are equally keen to strut their stuff and have their voices heard.

South African Twitter was abuzz in the last few days after the top 20 finalists were revealed for the Mr South Africa. To say that people were not at all impressed by the "caliber" of the finalists would be an understatement. To make things worse, and hilariously so, the only criterion the finalists needed to meet was to "have a good heart".

Understandably, people highlighted the apparent double-standard between the Mr and Miss South Africa pageants. Finalists for Miss South Africa are expected to meet often unrealistic beauty standards whilst the absolute bare minimum is acceptable for their male counterparts.

Mr Gay South Africa, Chris Emmanuel, will compete with 23 other contestants in the Mr Gay World pageant which will take place in Cape Town. This will be the country's fourth time hosting the pageant in the last 8 years after Hong Kong pulled out at the last minute due to a clampdown on LGBT events by the Chinese government.

According toSowetanLIVE, Emmanuel, who is in his early forties, says:

"I believe that through Mr Gay World, which is not just a pageant but a platform for LGBTIQ+ people who are voiceless, I can help my fellow citizens who are LGBTIQ+ people to be heard. We are battling with our constitution to decriminalize the issue of same sex practices."