Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Going for the Glory



Ah, Beuaty Pageants. We love to hate them, don't we? And for good reason. One reason why I so despise them is their perpetuation of women competing against each other physically. It's rare to walk down the street and come across a woman who smiles back at me. There's usually avoided glances, the "up and down," and a furrowed eyebrow if I make eye contact and smile (and once in a while an utterly surprised look of recognition and a big grin, back). We need to stand together! We need to care for each other and encourage one another and honour the way we all look; fat, skinny, tall, short, pimples or porcelein.

Puerto Rico's representative for the Pageant, Ingrid Marie Rivera, had her clothes peppersprayed by jealous contestants in an effort to discourage her from continuing. Ultimately the chemical caused a rash which, incidently, did not stop Rivera. Good for her... she continued on smilin' and won the pageant (and off to Donald Trump's Miss Universe she flies). Something of interest I note in the article, though, is this:

The 24-year-old broke out in series of ugly blotches and a rash after coming into contact with the contaminated evening dress.
Were they blotches or ugly blotches? What a slanted, leading comment!
And there's there's this little note:
The part time model had to strip off her clothes while assistants applied the treatment.

Oooh! You mean the beauty queen got neh-kid!? And HOT - assistants applied a treatment! Just imaGINE! That face... getting a naked treatment. Excuse me, but is this necessary journalism? Talk about sensationalist writing. Sabotaged Pageant leads to sexy nude backstage rubdown!

This is just a gross article that misses the point that competitions like this only perpetuate the problem of woma(e)n vs woma(e)n.


Start a Revolution! Love eachother! Let's smile at eachother and celebrate our bodies and our talents and our friendships.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I played Little Miss Sunshine a few times when I was a projectionist and that scene never fails to make me laugh and cry at the same time.

as for the journalism you describe, I find that so incredibly irritating, too...the obvious bias you see with every little adjective and adverb.