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Significance of an Indian-American winning Miss America crown

20 Sep 2013 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

For the first time in history of the pageant, Nina Davuluri, an Indian-American won the Miss America crown. In an age when beauty contests are scorned at by feminists as degrading, the news somehow sparked a fierce Internet discussion.
There were many insulting comments on Twitter, racist and ignorant, some going as far as calling her Miss Al-Qaeda, while others ranted on about how the new winner was too foreign to be American. For every hateful Twitter comment, there were others, applauding and recognizing Miss Davuluri, a daughter of a doctor, who also says she wants to study medicine.

Woman of colour
The fact remained that Nina Davuluri became the first American-Indian to win the Miss America crown. Granted, she is more dark-skinned than what passes as ‘fair-skinned’ in the South Asian region. But then, dark skin is celebrated in the West which dotes on its tanning machines and sunshine.
As one columnist put it in Huffington Post, she wouldn’t get past the first round in a beauty pageant in her native India. This is Asia where fairness creams are sought after and women like to shield themselves from the sun.
Yet, Nina won one of beauty industry’s most coveted titles – a smart young woman, very capable and very confident and we must applaud loud but wait, does it really matter that a smart woman, a woman of colour won Miss America title? Is it important for the women of today?
Beauty contests are not exactly what they used to be. They are no longer the measuring gauge for beauty, brains or position of women in contests such as these. We like to think we have made many strides in women’s rights but beauty contests still remind us that there is so much more to be achieved.

"Let’s applaud Nina because she has also experienced some of life’s toughest situations that face young women in today’s competitive world of achieving perfection – be it in looks, weight or career. Nina has gone through the suffering of anorexia and understands the pressures brought on by high expectations"

Not that beauty contests are bad – they do give a platform for talented women to showcase themselves – but certain elements of beauty contests tend to cast a shadow on what has been achieved with much blood, sweat and tears.
I was watching the other day ‘Iron Jawed Angels’ starring Hillary Swank, a brilliant movie that outlined the struggle of American women to win the right to vote. Swank, who co-directed the movie, starred as Alice Paul, the committed women’s rights activist who endures prison, virtual torture in being force-fed and many other obstacles in her pursuit of what we today have come to regard as basic human rights.

Fight for freedom
From Alice Paul to Nina Davuluri is a long road, bumpy but remarkable. As women, we have had to fight for most of it and still do. For an example, women in India, where Nina hails from, are still fighting for the freedom to travel in public transport without facing fears of rape and molestation.
Incidents of brutal rape and harassment are not limited to India – we hear of some terrible stories of gender-based violence every day, from our own country.
On the whole, South Asia reeks of gender-based violence towards women, starting from choice of aborting baby girls. Women face domestic violence, discrimination at work, inability to travel safely alone or accompanied – the list is long. There’s a lot that needs to be addressed when it comes to basic issues of safety for women.
Sometimes beauty contests can be used as powerful platforms to create awareness of the problems faced by the world’s women. Sometimes the power of beauty and fashion can be harnessed for good things too. And here’s to hoping that as new Miss America and perhaps a possible Miss Universe, can reach out to women throughout the world facing real life issues of gender-based violence and discrimination.

Changing times
Many are of the view that Miss America 2014, which Nina Davuluri won, in itself was a powerful statement of changing times. Miss Kansas, ‘a red white and blue dyed-in-the-wool American woman’ who was considered a favourite to win, wore her tattoos proudly instead of covering them up with makeup.
Miss Iowa, who was born without forearm and would have been previously considered unable to compete in a beauty contest, was a confident young woman on the stage.
Miss California who became the runner up to Nina Davuluri, is a Satnford graduate and a Chinese-American. Diversity indeed ruled the day, as it does elsewhere in today’s world; notwithstanding the racist outbursts and questions about Miss Davuluri’s dark skin.
There were others who said that Miss America, as opposed to Miss USA, was more about brains than beauty. On the whole, it seems that by winning one of the most coveted titles in business, Nina Davuluri has created a buzz.
Let’s applaud Nina not only because she makes history as the pageant’s first Indian-American winner – but also because she aspires to be a doctor and that is encouraging for all of the young women watching the show. She is a good role model for girls who may be swayed by the latest trends, be it in fashion or beauty.
Let’s applaud Nina because she has also experienced some of life’s toughest situations that face young women in today’s competitive world of achieving perfection – be it in looks, weight or career. Nina has gone through the suffering of anorexia and understands the pressures brought on by high expectations.

After all, it makes all of us feel good that a sister from the region has gone on to become America’s top beauty, never mind the catcalls about beauty pageants being too demeaning for women.

(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior
journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at
[email protected])

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Significance of an Indian-American winning Miss America crown

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