![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/letter-to-the-editor.jpg\" "\\"letter")
Weight discrimination is almost as common as racial discrimination. Many factors impact the perception of one’s body image, including the mass media, peer groups, ethnic groups, and family values.<\/p>\nWeight discrimination is almost as common as racial discrimination. Many factors impact the perception of one’s body image, including the mass media, peer groups, ethnic groups, and family values.<\/p>\n
There is no such thing as an “ideal” or “perfect” body, and different cultures have different standards and norms for appropriate body sizes and shapes. Even within our Dominican culture, societal standards have shifted periodically. The interesting factor is that women are viewed as overweight, not “under height” when being compared\u00a0 to fashion models. My concern however, is the body-image distortion among the contestants in the Miss Dominica Pageant. No winner of the pageant has ever been “overweight,” and facts show that the contestants accepted have gotten progressively thinner over the years.<\/p>\n
My argument is solely geared towards the discrimination against women who do not reflect the typical profile of a beauty pageant participant and is a very serious problem that we need to address. This year as we have noticed the contestants have yet been introduced to the public. WHY IS THIS? Well the DFC Committee is the only source for credible answers however, from reliable sources the lack of applicants with suitable qualifications dominated the spectrum. At their first deadline (Oct 17th) the committee had received eight applications with which they must have been dissatisfied since the deadline was further extended.<\/p>\n
It should be publicized that\u00a0 an applicant may have been discriminated against for the mere issue of being overweight regardless of the quality of her application: (She was even regarded by an interviewer as the BEST CANDIDATE INTERVIEWED IN MANY YEARS). What image are we sending across to young women in Dominica? That they should not be proud and comfortable in their own skin? Or does lack of trust in dedication and commitment to the goals women set to strive upon when sacrificing to participate in competitions of this nature a more prevailing subject.<\/p>\n
As we had well observed in 2003, a well deserving candidate Ms. Michelle Paul had been chosen but misguided with regards to the criteria. Paul had won Best Talent and the Intelligence award and still failed to capture a place in the top three and in my opinion was injustice because of how she was judged in one particular round.<\/p>\n
It is my interest to seek the public’s viewpoint on this matter, very controversial, however eye-awakening. Ironically, we need to be able to throw our weight around. Why a woman who is Size eight isn’t allowed to participate in Miss Dominica’s Pageant?!?!<\/p>\n
Opinions expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Dominica News Online.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weight discrimination is almost as common as racial discrimination. Many factors impact the perception of one’s body image, including the mass media, peer groups, ethnic groups, and family values. There is no such thing as an “ideal” or “perfect” body,…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n