So, I just turned on the TV to look for the basketball game and came across A.C. Slater announcing to the world--or, at least, to Una Latina and her ilk--the Miss Universe finalists: ladies from India, Brazil, Angola, Japan, Tanzania, Korea, Nicaragua, Mexico, Venezuela, and--because, well, the judges know who marinates their steaks--USA were called to the fore.
What's interesting is that every single one of the ten is a woman of color. Knowing nothing about beauty pageants, and refusing to learn--as I've now switched to the Deron Williams show--I ask this: Obviously, the competition is sexist and antiquated--I'm talking to you swimsuit portion--but do these results reflect some sort of strange societal progress? Is the world--or at least Tony Romo and his compadres --finally coming to realize that the combination of white, blonde, and Scandinavian is for many of us the least interesting component in the spectrum of women's beauty? Is the majority embracing my ideas about the female aesthetic ideal? Or is this gender, race and sexuality intersecting in troubling and typical ways? Is Miss Universe mainstreaming the historical fetishization of female bodies with black, brown and other hues? Is that why the swimsuits are jungle-themed? Wtfuck?
1 comment:
whoa, miss universe has become a lot sexier than i remember. if this is considered to be racial progress, i prefer the days of yore.
Post a Comment