| Subject: Why the beauty double standard? |
Author:
The Toronto Star
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Date Posted: 07:19:59 07/21/05 Thu
BERNADETTE MORRA
Paris Hilton comes to town and we close off Queen St.
Miss Universe returns home and she is publicly dissed by officials at city hall.
Mayor David Miller has apologized. Natalie Glebova, the Russian-born Torontonian crowned in Thailand in May, has moved on. But Miss Universe officials, and many others, remain baffled. Especially in light of the fact that Toronto has just spent $4 million on a campaign promoting our city to the world.
"Everywhere she goes, Natalie tells people that they've got to come to Toronto, that it's such a beautiful place," says Paula Shugart, president of the New York-based Miss Universe Organization. "It's silly not to embrace the fact that she is promoting your city."
The absurd ban, which prevented Glebova from appearing at a Thai event at Nathan Philips Square on the weekend, resulted from a bylaw intended to prevent the objectification of women.
No doubt there's a cheesiness associated with beauty pageants which are, after all, the original reality shows. But it's time for an update on what Miss Universe does.
"Miss Universe started 54 years ago as a swimsuit competition," Shugart explains. "But the title is much deeper than people realize." Every Miss Universe takes on a charitable cause and can log up to 1,000,000 kms raising awareness and funds.
Glebova has zeroed in on AIDS, so her first major trip was a fact-finding one to South Africa where she visited orphanages, had a very public AIDS test (the result was negative), and lunched at Bishop Desmond Tutu's home. Upcoming travel includes Malaysia, Thailand, India and Brazil, culminating in Rio de Janiero on Dec. 1, World AIDS day.
It's all part of the Miss Universe mission to present its winners as role models who are savvy, goal-oriented and aware and who seek to improve the lives of others.
"Pageants have morphed considerably over the last 20 years," concurs Connie McNaughton, president and CEO of Miss World Canada Inc. "They aren't really beauty pageants anymore. Miss World's motto is beauty with a purpose. We've raised over $350 million for children's charities."
A new Miss World Canada, Ramona Amiri of Vancouver, was crowned at the Holiday Inn on King on Saturday night. In the days leading up to the main event, she and 29 competitors raised $17,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society through car washes and the sales of T-shirts.
Beyond fundraising, Shugart sees pageants as a great career opportunity. "One Miss Universe became governor of a province in Venezuela. We have two who are goodwill ambassadors for the U.N. and two who are MTV veejays. Yes, we still have a swimsuit competition. But we're much more than just that."
A few years ago, Shugart was listening to then-Miss USA make a speech on the importance of early detection of breast and ovarian cancer. "I thought I should practice what we preach so I went and had a mammogram. I found out I was in the early stages of breast cancer. I never would have done that if I hadn't heard her speech.
"Not every culture is going to love the beauty pageant culture," Shugart admits. "All I ask is that people be somewhat respectful because Natalie is a good person and a hard worker. She's been averaging four hours sleep a night for the last three weeks. But she's a trouper. She says, `let's just move on.'"
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