by Diana Crandall
‘The Ugly American’ reared its head as social media erupted with racism on Sunday night. Twitter feeds overfilled with bigotry and intolerance as Indian-American Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America.“I swear I’m not racist, but this is America,” read one tweet. Even more offensive, many Twitter users began heckling Davuluri, calling her a terrorist and a foreigner because of her dark skin.
Davuluri responded gracefully, stating: “I’m so happy this organization has embraced diversity…I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America.”
Amidst this budding controversy comes the revelation that television personality Julie Chen opted for plastic surgery fifteen years ago in order to appear “less Asian” onscreen.
Her boss made it clear that she would appear less on television because of the prominent creases on her eyelids that made her look “emotionless” and “detached.” Although heavily criticized by her family, she did what she thought was right in order to further her career.
Thus, the question rises: Why is our society so preoccupied with physical appearance? Each and every female competing in the Miss America pageant is currently enrolled in college; most go on to become wildly successful in the professional arena.
Past queens have obtained bachelor’s degrees and established themselves in music, business, fashion, law, and broadcast communications, amongst countless other careers.
And yet, the picturesque female is still most palatable when she is scantily-clad and on a stage, judged by millions for her physical attractiveness. A pop culture icon, at least now her intelligence is a component of whether or not she will be chosen for the crown. It wasn’t always this way.
Consider the 1968 Miss America protests, when hundreds of women gathered on the Atlantic City boardwalk to protest the existence of the pageant during their annual crowning. They captured international media attention when they threw feminine products, false lashes and women’s fashion magazines into a trashcan with the intent of burning them.
These women were raging and angry: Why? Because they were tired of the American woman being poked, prodded, and pushed in every different direction to mold her into the “ideal” woman. Graceful and beautiful, the perfect mother and quiet housewife. Diligent church-goer and military cheerleader. Married to the rich and successful men that they looped arms with at social events. A revered prize.
Today, while women competing in the pageant are highly intelligent and successful, they are still primarily praised, or in Davuluri’s and Chen’s cases, attacked, for the way that they look.
When will we stop looking at human beings objectively? Where has this horrifying xenophobia been hiding? When will it cease to haunt us as a society? For each poignant step we take forward, we are ripped back in time by those incapable of looking toward a future that acknowledges that we are a nation founded by immigrants.
In America, we should treasure different cultures instead of condemning them.I am tired of wading through molasses to try to discard the ideology that American women are better off paper thin and white, balancing bleach and formula bottle. Instead, we should be balancing babies, books, and beauty because we can be anything we want to be –no stage or particular ethnicity necessary.
dcrandal@capital.edu
