A 60-year-old woman saw her dreams of becoming the oldest Miss Universe contestant in history dashed at Argentina’s annual beauty pageant to crown Argentina’s Miss Universe Argentina.
Alejandra Marissa Rodriguez, a legal consultant at a hospital whose participation in the pageant had been hailed as a triumph against ageist racism in a youth-obsessed world, was left out of the Miss Argentina crown. But he walked away with the title of “best person” from the competition, which did not come for free.
During the pageant she thanked everyone who celebrated her success in the Miss Buenos Aires pageant last month. Her victory there, after Miss Universe abolished the age limit, sparked a frenzy of global media attention that made her famous first locally and later globally.
From one moment to the next, the sweet-voiced lawyer from the La Plata neighborhood, south of Buenos Aires, was handing out moisturizer tips to women trying to achieve her ultra-smooth face and promising audiences that there was truth to the saying that age is just a number.
Alejandra Marisa Rodríguez broke stereotypes as she was crowned Miss Universe for the province of Buenos Aires at 60-years-old. pic.twitter.com/6PjPRrAFCf
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 26, 2024
Not all fairy tales have happy endings, but she didn’t see it that way
“As a result of what happened to me, I think it opened a new door for a lot of people who maybe didn’t have an easy life,” Rodriguez told The Associated Press backstage after the event, still dressed in her red cocktail dress with revealing slits. her legs. “It was an adventure and I had no expectations from it, other than taking on a new challenge.”
But the judges preferred Magali Beneham, a 29-year-old actress and model from Córdoba, who wore a skimpy blue bikini and high heels to first win “best swimsuit” and eventually beat 27 other contestants to be crowned Miss Argentina and to represent the country in the world competition.
“I’m so excited and so grateful to be here because the competition wasn’t easy,” Beneham told the AP. He will represent Argentina in Mexico City for the world competition in November.
Even 29-year-old Beneham’s victory would have been impossible a year ago, as the pageant had long capped contestants at 28. This year, for the first time in its 73-year history, “the Miss Universe pageant welcomes every participant over the age of 18.”
From a competition for “engineers”, it turned into a competition for women of all ages without restrictions
For decades, the Miss Universe pageant was openly described as an extravaganza featuring single women in their late teens and twenties for judges to assess their looks and personalities. As more and more people found this disturbing, the organizers realized how far behind reality the pageant fell.
In recent years, as #MeToo and the equality and social justice movements swept the world, Miss Universe raced to convince skeptics that it was more about the mind and spirit (and clichés) than the body.
It removed several controversial eligibility criteria, opening the field to married, pregnant, lesbian and transgender women, and removing all references to “beauty” from its website.
From the victory of Alejandra Rodríguez in the regional competition to be elected Miss Buenos Aires.
The counterargument states that elusive limits are set for her conversations
However, as the pageant emphasized empathy, confidence and authenticity as feminine ideals, the references to the “young woman” remained in place, and with them, the “ban on wrinkles around the eyes,” as the Associated notes Press. While many women praised Rodriguez’s decision to compete at age 60, others questioned whether she was setting unreasonable standards for older women.
Her award-winning face, statuesque figure and sculpted features made her blend in with the younger contestants on stage. “It contributes to the feeling that everyone should be able to look like this, that all 60-year-old women should have the appearance of youth and freshness, as if they were 25,” said Lala Pascinelli, an Argentine feminist activist. “If they don’t, it’s because they’re not willing to make the sacrifices.”
Perhaps the next evolution of society will be the abolition of beauty pageants through their reduced success, but until society achieves corresponding visual values of all people regardless of their appearance, these small steps should help.
