Miss Mexico's Take on Beauty Pageant Stereotyping Marie Southard Ospina - Bustle
go to original December 20, 2015

At the end of the day, the questionable politics of beauty pageants don't necessarily have to align perfectly with the politics of the women involved. On this, Wendy Esparza, Miss Mexico 2015, has a little something to say.

"Sometimes people might not take me seriously or assume that I place an important value on physical appearance, which isn't true at all," Esparza tells me in a phone conversation. "I think it’s the title holder’s responsibility to demonstrate the contrary. Any pageant should seek to find an intelligent woman that can speak well, that has initiative, that is hard working."

Though a native of Evanston, Illinois, Esparza has grown up between the United States and Mexico, the daughter of immigrant parents. She attended Loyola University with a full ride, where she studied journalism and Latin American literature. But she's no stranger to the arguably cliched idea that those interested in beauty pageants mustn't also be interested in, well, anything else.

It's been difficult for the 24-year-old to reconcile a relatively new interest in pageantry with her goals and interests outside of all the glitz, glam, and high heels. "Since I have a journalism degree, it’s hard to balance my degree and this side of my personality," she tells me. And it makes sense. I mean, when you're an educated person who seemingly believes in feminist principals at heart, it must be trying to balance such beliefs with a passion for an environment that many might call anti-feminist. To such an argument, Emily Vrotsos wrote on Feminspire, "The problem is not the women who compete in them, the problem is how beauty pageants evaluate these women’s worth: physical beauty."

Read the rest at Bustle

Related: Steve Harvey Crowns the Wrong Miss Universe in Awkward Live TV Gaffe (HuffPost)

Related: Perez Hilton: ‘Thankfully Donald Trump No Longer Owns Miss Universe Pageant’ (Associated Press)

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