The fat-shaming of Miss Universe
Brentwood, L.I.: I was hugely disappointed by Linda Stasi’s tone and content (“Note to beauty queens — if your body is your job, it’s not fat-shaming,” Sept. 29). Fat-shaming is not debatable; it is destructive and disgusting. To argue that women who make their bodies their profession deserve the hate they receive is counter-productive and regressive. First, Stasi ignores the complexities of the Miss Universe pageant in relation to the countries where access to jobs and education are severely limited. I will not judge women from developing countries whose only chance at an education rests on their participation in these events.
Secondly, Stasi’s point that she “…watched Miss America with the rest of the world, wondering if (she) would ever look like that,” is a gross generalization of what other young women feel like. To victimize other women into suggesting they feel the same is also regressive. It takes away a certain measure of control and strength from the female narrative. If Stasi had this experience, she should be more self-reflective about the support group she had at home, from her family and from her friends, rather than blame other women who have had nothing to do with her upbringing.
Stasi’s last point I find the most problematic: “Bottom line: A contest that pits women against women based on their looks and their bodies is wrong on every level.” Is she not doing the same thing here, pitting women against women? To suggest that certain women deserve to be fat-shamed is to demoralize and dehumanize those individuals. No: The bottom line is that no one deserves to get dehumanized and fat-shamed, regardless of their profession.
Diana Hernandez