MANILA (The Straits Times/ANN): When Richard Jermaine “RJ” Perkins walked on stage during a male pageant in the Philippines, he did something quietly radical.
The 21-year-old, who is a Mister Pampanga 2026 candidate, strutted around a bayside boardwalk on April 19 with nothing on but his snug swim trunks – and a body that turned the standard for male beauty on its head.
He had a fuller midsection – a paunch bookmarked by “love handles” – a soft chest, and arms and legs that were not toned by investing hours a day at the gym.
But he had the easy, unseen confidence of someone who had decided he was not going to apologise for any of that.
The audience noticed. So did the internet.
A video of his turn in the swimwear segment of the beauty contest has gone viral in the Philippines and beyond, drawing tens of thousands of comments.
Most praised him for his daring, courage, and refreshing display of body confidence.
“That’s really how most men actually look,” one social media user wrote.
Another called his confidence “empowering”, urging others not to equate worth with physical perfection.
“Confidence is not about being delusional,” someone else wrote. “Confidence is realising who you really are and accepting yourself.”
However, there were others who were less kind, mocking his appearance and weighing him against the familiar, if often unspoken, beauty standards men are held against: lean, muscular, chiselled.
“Brother failed to put on a bra,” one wrote.
Yet, Mr Perkins is taking it in stride.
“I walked on that stage showing who I am, and what I want to show to the world,” he said in an interview with Philippine news channel News 5, even as he called it a “nerve-wracking experience”.
“When I woke up to see everyone commenting that it was a brave thing to do, I was really happy,” he told News 5.
Of the critics, he added simply: “Thank you. You guys at least saw me.”
‘Love your body’
Mr Perkin’s path to that stage has not been straightforward.
He once trained under a talent programme linked to the Filipino pop industry and pursued acting, before leaving to study performing arts at the University of Toronto.
He said he had also undergone a significant personal transformation, going from 180kg to about 100kg.
The pageant, his first, was meant as a new beginning.
“I might as well set a standard,” he said. “That was my goal.”
“I want everyone to learn to accept, to love your body, and at the same time, grow along with it. Confidence doesn’t just start from yourself, but also from your mind and heart,” he said.
The Mister Pampanga contest is still under way.
Preliminary events are scheduled for early May, with the coronation set for May 9.
Online, Mr Perkins has surged ahead in popularity, leading a public poll by thousands of votes.
The highest voted candidate is set to advance straight to the Top 10, the organiser said.
Whether all the attention translates into a title for Mr Perkins remains to be seen.
But he has already achieved something harder to measure. He has been seen – not despite his body, but because he refused to hide it. -- The Straits Times/Asia News Network
