Is Iceland Bashing Beauty?
Last week, a new beauty was crowned Miss USA. Full of youth and blessed with a body to die for, Rachel Smith epitomizes the ideal pageant queen—and also a kind of ideal beauty. But it’s not an ideal that appeals to everyone. And a small town in Iceland is out to prove it.
On April 18th, the town of Isafjoerdur will be hosting an “alternative” beauty pageant aimed at challenging the Western ideal of beauty by rewarding contestants for their imperfections. From saggy breasts to heavy wrinkles, the more flaws the better.
The pageant’s one rule: No plastic surgery allowed.
Plastic surgery is sometimes criticized for having a homogenizing effect. This pageant seems to want to combat that with its celebration of non-conformity, of difference.
On the one hand, I applaud the efforts of the pageant organizers. I think it’s important to reject exclusive standards of beauty and accept and celebrate individual differences. Difference is what makes us all beautiful.
However, not all plastic surgery seeks sameness. What this pageant seems to want to deny is the positive impact plastic surgery can have on a person’s self-esteem and own personal sense of beauty.
Beauty, as the saying goes, is in the eye of the beholder. And whatever makes a person feel comfortable, confident, and beautiful in his/her skin should be accepted—plastic surgery or not.
Technorati Tags: Isafjoerdur, beauty pageant, alternative beauty pageant
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