BEAUTY pageants and controversy appear to go hand in hand.

While Singaporeans are up in arms over Miss Singapore World Ris Low's poor command of English and her criminal record, Miss World Malaysia organisers are getting flak for their promotional campaign, reported the Malay Mail.

It's demeaning, some Malaysians say - not to women, but to men.

Meant to promote the theme Beauty is Power, the pageant's Toy Boy campaign has images - real and virtual - of women dominating men.

Visit the official website at www.missworldmalaysia.com.my and you will be greeted by a picture of a man down on all fours and a woman sitting on his back.

A link entitled Toy Boy has since been removed or made unavailable. It had directed visitors to an application which allowed users to 'instruct' a man to perform humiliating acts such as acting like a cat, getting spanked or showing his posterior.

In the real world, shoppers at a local mall recently were stunned to see a woman leading a man about with a leash round his neck.

A video footage of the stunt has been uploaded onto YouTube. Many viewers who commented on the video found it amusing, although some were offended.

In a strongly worded reaction to someone who said the footage was 'cool', adrsnd wrote: ' Miss World Msia is supposed to be a glam & classy pageant but this seriously lacks it. Do u even know the definition of toyboy?'

Women's rights groups also weighed in with their opinions.

Ms Maria Chin Abdullah, a prominent advocate of women's rights and the executive director of Empower said: 'I find the beauty pageant's portrayal of a woman dominating and humiliating a man simply disgusting.

'In fact, it actually makes women look bad and less intelligent.'

She said the idea of power is not about one having control over another, and this applied to both genders.

She added: 'What should be promoted is equality between genders.'

Ms Maria added that the international version of Miss World had always encouraged the idea of charity and making a difference, but the Malaysian edition did not reflect the cause with this campaign.

Ms Abigail de Vries, a spokesman for the Petaling Jaya-based All-Women's Action Society, said the Toy Boy campaign was 'distasteful'.

She said: 'I'm amazed with the organisers. Is this what they are trying to convey to the public what empowerment actually means?

'The clip where the man gets pulled around on a leash by a woman is simply offensive... and disrespectful. I don't think it's funny.'

But the organisers maintain that the Toy Boy campaign was merely a playful way of delivering the idea that beauty is power.

Miss World Malaysia 2009 spokesman Chong Wei-Hsiang said: 'By no means is our campaign meant to suggest that power should be used to demean or belittle.

'We are also not suggesting that the only way to empowerment is for a woman to have another person do her bidding, as suggested by our virtual 'toy boy'.

'Women's role in society has evolved to a stage whereby there are now hardly any glass ceilings, and it is proven by the increasing number of women CEOs.'

Borrowing a line from the Spider-Man movie, Ms Chong added: 'Our belief is that a beautiful woman is a powerful person, and as with any form of power, there comes great responsibility.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.