She’s Just 17

There was a time when beauty pageants graced the Saturday evening schedules every year. However since their zenith three or more decades ago they have fallen out of favour.

Funny really because despite being labelled as degrading by feminists and old fashioned by the TV schedulers the girls on them were relatively representative of the average women around at the time. I point that out because now we seem quite happy to put up with size zero models and actresses with their eating issues setting the example for the young people of 2008. What’s more harmful, a woman of genuinely average size in a swimsuit, eveningwear etc, or a woman who the WHO’s standards would class as malnourished causing young women to worry so much about their weight they develop eating disorders?

Now I’m not saying that the Miss World and Miss England type contest are perfect and for years I felt that they should be taken around the back of the London Palladium and humanely disposed of. The competition that is 😛 However, I do have an open mind. I’m still to be fully convinced, but I think that there may be a place for them.

There is one caveat to my acceptance of these competitions – that the women in them represent society’s women in all their shapes, sizes, ethnicities and creeds. Without that they are rather shallow and without meaning, or worse they give out the wrong messages.

So what brings me to write this post?

Chloe Marshall

She’s competing for the title of Miss England this weekend and she’s a bit special. She’s a size 16.

What makes me so happy about this is that she’s a size 16 and has won through to the finals of the competition despite all the pressure to be thin. Watch this video if you want to hear her talking about the competition and her attitude toward her body shape. And if you want to see some more images of this gorgeous young lady visit her site chloemarshall.co.uk

Miss England do have a site, but when I checked it was having “technical difficulties”, try accessing it here.

More importantly if you want to help Chloe win the competition you can vote for her by either calling 09012 935935 then keying 14, or texting Miss Surrey to 81118. In both instances you will incur a charge, see this page in the Miss England site for details or charges. Lines close tomorrow evening.

Wouldn’t it be nice if a real woman won the contest?

BTW Miss England have a YouTube channel here.

Tags: Chloe Marshall, Miss England