FRANCE — Is a woman with long hair deemed more beautiful and desirable?
The debate over beauty standards of women have come to the fore after a contestant with a pixie cut was crowned as the new Miss France.
Ms Eve Gilles made waves on Saturday (Dec 16) by being the first-ever contestant with short hair to win the title of Miss France in the pageant’s 103-year history.
The aspiring statistician was crowned in front of a massive audience of 7.5 million television viewers.
Ms Gilles’ win, however, has sparked a surprising backlash against the nation’s top beauty pageant, with online critics accusing its judges of going “woke” for selecting a winner that they claim “doesn’t look anything like a Miss France”.
Ms Gilles has reportedly been harshly criticised for her “absence of curves”, her thinness and her short hair, according to French media.
Woke is a slang word typically used to describe individuals who are aware of social problems and injustices, such as racism and inequality. However, the term is also used by some conservatives in a disparaging way.
Over the weekend, the hashtag #MissFrance2024 trended on X (formerly Twitter) as many online users took to the social media platform to voice their opinions on the results.
Ms Gilles’ Instagram account also received a flood of negative comments.
One X user wrote: “In a stunning turn of events, the newly crowned Miss France has short hair!? It’s the woke ideology trying to force masculine-looking women upon us. Can society get more ridiculous?”
Another critic proclaimed: “Miss France is no longer a beauty contest but a woke contest which is based on inclusiveness.”
The sentiment was echoed by some other X users who accused Ms Gilles of “instilling wokeist values” into society, British tabloid The Daily Mail reported.
A handful of netizens even made fun of her appearance by calling her “anorexic” and “transgender”.
However, the negative comments were drowned out by a surge of support for Ms Gilles, with many people including French politicians, congratulating her on the historic win.
One fan wrote: “Maybe the new #MissFrance isn’t gorgeous in your eyes, but seeing wokeism in her because she has short hair… It’s just ridiculous.”