Pretoria - It is interesting that organisers of Miss South Africa have loosened the rules to make the 2019 competition more inclusive, embracing imperfections and the more typical, larger, South African figure.
But there has been a storm over the description of two finalists, one a 34 (size 10) and one a 36 (size 12), as “plus-size”, with some suggesting this amounts to body-shaming.
Miss SA’s Stephanie Weil defended the organisation, saying it was simply using modelling industry terminology and, according to industry standards, any model above a size 10 is considered plus-size.
“So it’s not that we dubbed them; it’s how they are identified and by no means has anything to do with being overweight or anything like that,” she said.
It’s true that high fashion models are expected to be a certain shape: over 172cm tall, lithe with a tiny waist and fitting in a 30 (size 6 or XS) or 32 (size 8 or S). So what does this mean for Pretoria’s Beulah Baduza, from Pretoria, or Sasha-Lee Olivier from Joburg, 26 - the two “bigger” women in this year’s Miss SA competition?
“I have been termed a plus-size because I’m not a size zero, and when you’re in the industry long enough you just accept it,” says Beulah, who says her size is her reality. Sasha-Lee said that while industry standards have labelled her a plus-sized model, she has never felt that way, noting that “body positivity is by no means just for skinny or plus-size women, it’s for everyone”.
The truth is that while “plus-size” people out there may identify with Beulah and Sasha-Lee, we root for them, and want them to take the Miss SA crown on our behalf when it comes to taking that title beyond our borders, what chance will they have to take the crown against the likes of current Miss World Vanessa Ponce or lanky Miss Universe Catriona Gray who have Victoria Secret model-like bodies?