On Sunday June 8, 2014 Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez was crowned Miss USA 2014. Yet the contestant making the headlines is Miss Indiana, Mekayla Diehl.
Miss Indiana did not even make it through the semi-finals, so what’s all the hoopla about?
In my last blog “What is Beauty?”, we discussed models in the fashion industry. If you recall, most of your Super Models and beauty pageant Beauty Queens average to be approximately 5’11 and 117 pounds. In the industry, sizes 4 – 6 are considered too heavy. Sunday during the swim wear competition, when Miss Indiana appeared in her tight white bikini the Twitterverse and social media went crazy. Diehl didn’t look like the rest of the bony super thin contestants. She actually had a healthy, curvy, “thicker” physique. She was approximately 25 pounds heavier then the rest of the contestants. In fact Miss Indiana was reported as being “normal” and “average”, as well as a closer representation to the Average Woman.
Since Diehl’s appearance in the Miss USA pageant, their has been a lot of debate on whether she truly is normal or average. In an interview regarding the debate on her physique with Fox and friends, Diehl stated,
It’s quite overwhelming in a positive way, I suppose. I did not [starve myself to fit into the bikini]. And the funny thing is, the bikini did not fit well—and people made a point to tell me that. But if that’s the only negative point of that entire experience, I’ll take it. I think the inspiration to some young girls has been wonderful…I wanted to inspire others to go after their dreams, and I never imagined it would be in a swimsuit. I trained very hard for the body I have, but I didn’t go to any extremes, and I’m proud of that. There’s nothing I would change about my preparation for Miss USA.”
Is Miss Indiana normal or average? Today the average American Woman is 5’4, 140 – 160 pounds, and wears a size 12 – 14. Miss Indiana is a size 4, 25 year old fit woman that stands 5’8 and 137 pounds. According to the BMI chart she measures as a 21, which is well within the “normal” range. Despite the contrary, Diehl is normal. However she is still well below the National “Average”.
Personally, I don’t agree with beauty pageants. Beauty can only take you so far in life. When beauty fades, you had better have some type of real life skills to get by in this world. I believe these pageants give false hope to women and little girls. Majority of women will never be able to look like these women, it’s physically not possible. The failure of young girls and women to resemble these beauty queens aids in depression, self-esteem issues and eating disorders.
The great news is we don’t have to be a model to be beautiful. If you want to inspire young girls to follow their dreams then help them get their education, real life skills, find their passion and support them along the way.Teach these young girls they don’t need to look like beauty queens or the models in magazines to be beautiful, important and worthy. Boost their self esteem in other positive ways. By boosting their self esteem we will also help reduce the likelihood of depression and eating disorders.
Despite my personal beliefs, if we are going to have these pageants, I am ecstatic to finally have a normal, healthy looking contestant. I hope Diehl is only the first of many.
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