COLUMN: Beauty doesn't equal thin

From Delia Vallejo's, "Journey to Aztian," Fall '97 From Delia Vallejo's, "Journey to Aztian," Fall '97 We want her to stay as Miss Universe, and she is working on her problem," Donald Trump announced. What seems to be Alicia Machado's grave problem? Did she commit a public embarrassment to the crown or some sort of heinous crime? What gives society the right to make Machado's weight their business? Many say she opened herself to this kind of criticism because she entered beauty pageants. Perhaps, beauty pageants should be illegal. Anything that makes a woman feel her importance and her worth can be defined when she steps on a scale is ridiculous. We're closing in on the 21st century and women are still parading around in bikinis and evening gowns in order to win a crown. But we mustn't forget they now include an interview. The award winning Miss USA question was: "How would you handle gaining weight?" Yes, that definitely gives us information on her political views and what she is passionate about. Even better, it tells us what kind of role model they expect her to be. No one knows for sure how much weight Alicia Machado gained, but what is reported is the 5-foot-10 Venezuelan is no longer the 118-pound-woman when she won the title. If you ask me, that weight does not sound too healthy for a woman of her stature. What kind of message does all of this media attention send to little girls across the continents? Instead of promoting a healthy image of a young woman, these events practically scream to little girls that being emaciated is ideal in order to be beautiful. A Miss Universe should be a woman who contributes to the betterment of society, such as a cure for a disease or a magnificent work of literature. The fact that her weight gain has brought about so much negative attention, including rumors of dethroning her just emphasizes the point of such a contest is to define what a beautiful woman should look like on the outside. It doesn't matter who she is on the inside, because if it did, her weight would be irrelevant. Who defines beauty anyway? Had this contest taken place a couple of centuries ago, today's contestants would have lost since they would be entirely too skinny by those judges' standards. Today, we are also socialized to believe tall is better than short, blond hair is better than brown hair, and that Linda Evangelista's size-4 body is more beautiful than Marilyn Monroe's size-12 body. We fail to realize women are beautiful as individual human beings who should not be judged according to some narrow-minded standard. It is the uniqueness of each woman that makes her beautiful. Beauty pageants trivialize the worth of the individual contestants by emphasizing superficial attributes -- when will there be an end to this nonsense? Women have made tremendous strides in becoming equal to men in every facet of society, yet these events allow them to still be judged by how they look in a bikini. We don't have a Mr. Universe pageant, and we should not have a Miss Universe pageant, or any other type of beauty pageant. I cannot imagine a man parading around a stage in a tuxedo and having to answer a ridiculous interview question such as, "how would you handle losing your hair?" Women should not have to go through that demeaning process either. Currently, Machado is dieting and exercising in order to appear at the crowning of the televised 1997 Miss Universe pageant in May. Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageant with CBS, oversees her workouts as she is his investment's crown jewel. Reportedly, Machado lost seven pounds in four days -- emphasizing to society that crash diets do work even if they are a detriment to your health. Hopefully, the emotional strain Machado has endured will end as soon as she finishes her reign. Perhaps, beauty pageants will be eradicated in my lifetime. I hope I will see a time when women are no longer objectified as simple beings who should not eat whatever they feel like if they are to be "beautiful."