What are we saying to our young people, when one of the selected finalists for Miss Universe is so underweight, she looks like she needs a hamburger more than a crown? What are we teaching our girls about what is beautiful, celebrated, and rewarded? What does the media tell them, show them, and cram down their throats?
Who? Stephanie Naumoska, a 19-year-old Australian model, was selected from more than 7,000 hopefuls to make it into the finals of the Miss Universe pageant.
What now? The finalist is now being criticized and showered with concern from the public who is not quite won over by the body image she represents. Dietitians and doctors are concerned for her welfare and are frustrated that someone who looks like “skin and bones” is given such accolades as a slot in the Miss Universe contest.
Something really to be worried about? You tell me. She’s 5′11″ and 108 pounds. Yes, you heard me right. That’s a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 15.1 which puts her firmly in the anorexic slot of the BMI chart.
Weigh in: Is this just one more body type we need represented or do we want this gaunt body type presented to our youth, as a symbol of world beauty, on the stage at all? Has this whole weight thing gotten out of hand or are we just getting started? You tell me.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
She is gorgeous!
I think that she should have a fair shot despite her weight. I think that by making thin a taboo, young girls will be more compelled to be that way. All the exposure on eating disorders and somehow more and more cases are popping up. We need to find other ways to promote positive self image without holding our nose up at the extremely thin. My 2cents.
I can’t believe this is even under discussion. This woman looks like one of the women in my roommates’ middle-school DVD videos on Auschwitz. (My roommate teaches social studies.)
She’s not gorgeous, she’s emaciated. There is nothing attractive about a human, male or female, so seriously underweight. This goes way beyond the physical into serious psychological issues. I hope she, and those like her, get the help they need.
Again we have a problem with women who are normally thin!!
many are that is their genes. There is a difference!
Yeah she is beautiful allriight.
But why do we not say that a girl who’s JUST ABOVE the normal BMI (or even at 23.9 )is beuatiful too?
If there is a limit for beauty upwards , why do we beautify the other extreme?
Having bones protrude at every possible location is not “normal”. Sure some people are naturally thin. The woman in the pic above is not one of them…at least not to the degree she exhibits.
she’s ugly.
No.