BUENOS AIRES.- A model 60-year-old saw her dreams of becoming a contestant on miss Universe oldest in history fade into a haze of sequins and selfies Saturday at the annual beauty pageant Argentina.
Alejandra Marisa Rodríguez, a hospital legal advisor whose entry into the competition was applauded as a triumph over age discrimination in a youth-obsessed world, did not win the Miss Argentina crown. But she did take home the title of ‘best face’, one of several categories in the contest, which included best evening dress, best swimsuit and most elegant.
During the pageant, she thanked everyone who celebrated her success at Miss Buenos Aires last month. Her victory there, after Miss Universe removed the age limit, generated a frenzy of international media attention that propelled her to local fame.
In an instant, the soft-spoken lawyer from the city of La Plata, south of Buenos Aires, was handing out advice on moisturizing creams to women seeking to match their unusually smooth faces and promising the public that the saying that age was true was true. It’s just a number.
“As a result of what happened to me, I think a new door has opened for a lot of people who maybe didn’t have it easily,” Rodríguez told The Associated Press backstage after the event, still dressed in her dress. red cocktail with leg openings. “It was a crazy adventure that had no expectations other than the idea of undertaking a new challenge.”
The contest
For the swimsuit portion at Miss Argentina, Rodriguez chose a modest one-piece with a shawl draped over her shoulders, shaking her shoulders a bit as the audience screamed and blew bugles.
But the judges preferred Magali Benejam, a 29-year-old actress and model from Córdoba who donned a tiny blue bikini and sky-high stilettos to win the ‘best swimsuit’ award and ultimately beat the other 27 contestants to be crowned. Miss Argentina.
“Excited and super grateful because the competition was not easy,” Benejam told the AP. She will represent Argentina in Mexico City for the international competition in November.
Even Benejam’s victory would have been impossible a year ago, since the pageant limited the age of contestants to 28 years. This year, for the first time in its 73-year history, the Miss Universe pageant welcomes any contestant over the age of 18.
It’s just the latest in a series of changes for a pageant that has been a lightning rod for feminist critics since bra-burning protests disrupted the 1968 Miss America pageant.
Miss Universe transformation
For decades, the Miss Universe pageant was openly described as a spectacle of unmarried twenty-somethings strutting their stuff before judges who rated their looks and personalities. As more and more people found this worrying, organizers realized how far removed the contest was from culture.
In recent years, as the #MeToo movement and other social justice actions spread around the world, Miss Universe sought to persuade skeptics that the pageant was more about minds and spirits than bodies.
It eliminated many of the controversial eligibility requirements, opening the field to married, pregnant, lesbian and transgender women, and removed all mention of beauty from its website.
However, as the contest highlighted empathy, trust and authenticity as feminine ideals, the mentions of young women remained in force and, with them, the ban on crow’s feet.
While many women praised Rodriguez’s decision to compete at age 60, others questioned whether she was setting an unreasonable standard for older women. Her pageant face, statuesque figure and sculpted features made her blend in with the younger cohort on stage.
“Today it seems that suddenly all 60-year-old women should be able to have that appearance of youth and freshness as if they were 25,” said Lala Pasquinelli, an Argentine feminist activist. “And if they don’t do it, it’s because they don’t want to, because they aren’t willing to make sacrifices.”
Source: AP
