In the Western world, it is a truth universally acknowledged that beauty equals height, weight, and stunningly shiny hair.  When “plus-size” models are used, it’s usually an event that needs to be labeled, so as not to confuse innocent viewers.  In Russia, the same standards of beauty are also now the norm.  Accordingly, it rattled the Russian media when Alyona Pisklova, a normal looking 15-year-old, was entered in the Rambler Media Group beauty pageant by her friends and swept the contest with at least 40,000 votes.

Rambler organized the pageant as a preliminary round for the June Miss Universe contest in Ecuador, and enthusiastic Russians were able to vote via the Internet and cell phones for their favorite contestants. Rambler made a profit on the process — it cost 86 cents to submit a vote — and was no doubt shocked when the winner was a curly haired, average-sized 15-year-old girl without any makeup.  They disqualified her, requiring all contestants to show their passports and prove their single status. While Alyona is single, she is under 18.

Alyona supporters struck back with a web site called “Say No to Barbie Dolls.” The English language statement on the site says, “Alyona represents a catalyst to reveal problems of our society. People who vote for Alyona voted against not naturally looking beauties, who cannot be distinguished from each other … mass-media standards and the models it imposes; products of the same type and trademark, which are made into cult objects for specific layers of the populace …” Anti-globalization groups such as Globalynaya Alternativa also threw themselves into the protest: “In this spontaneous protest the denizens of the Russian Internet — bored office workers, secretaries fed up with work and sexual harassment, middle management with its permanent attitude problem, journalists sick to death of their own cynicism — have all come into their own.” While objecting to the anti-globalization press, Rambler media officials and pageant organizers called the contest a success based on the participation rates, and offered Alyona a booby prize “Viewer’s Choice Award.”

Initially, I was thrilled to see that people were not willing to silently accept Alyona’s disqualification. From the comments posted on the “Say No to Barbie Dolls” site, women around the world feel similarly. It’s rare that anyone challenges the beauty standard outside fringe media, and Alyona feels like a breath of fresh air. Despite this, I began to wonder where the 15-year-old girl in this story was. How would it feel to be a high school student and know that people around the world were touting you as an icon of normalcy, or to have friends submit your photo to the contest as a joke, supposedly disguising your identity with the last name of a boy you secretly crushed on?  At least in the English speaking press, Alyona’s voice has been lost while her image is everywhere. I suppose I’d rather examine images of an average-looking woman in a “Barbie No Pasaran” t-shirt over an airbrushed model, but really, I’d like to hear what both have to say.

llouison