14 DAY TRIAL // As the Miss USA controversy is barely starting to die down, another one hits the Miss Universe beauty pageant, with health professionals sounding the alarm on the worryingly thin frame of Stephanie Naumoska, one of the contestants for Miss Universe Australia. Measuring 1.8m and weighing just 49kg, Naumoska should be qualified as underweight and be submitted to tests for an eating disorder, they say, as cited by a Reuters report.
The whole point behind the Miss Universe competition is that it is an event that promotes “healthy, proportioned bodies,” but that is definitely not the image Naumoska presented on the swimsuit stage of the competition. The model is far too skinny for her own good, health specialists and people involved in the pageant are now telling the media, adding that Stephanie is sending the wrong kind of message, as if telling girls that being so thin is to be desired.
“She would be categorized as underweight and I would certainly want to be doing an assessment of her diet to make sure she doesn’t have some type of eating disorder. She needs blood tests, diet analysis and an overall assessment.” dietician Melanie McGrice tells Reuters, adding that Naumoska has a body mass index of just 15.1, which is well below the standard 18 for malnutrition.
As the controversy rages on, with calls being made to have Stephanie removed from the competition to seek help for her condition, pageant director Deborah Miller says she has Macedonian heritage, which can explain why she is so slender. “They have long, lithe bodies and small bones. It is their body type, just like Asian girls tend to be small.” Miller explains. At the same time, dieticians are also telling the media that there is no such thing as a “Macedonian body type,” being just a made-up term to make the scandal go away.
“The most unhealthy part about it, though, is the image it is showing other young women who may view this as normal, when clearly it is not.” Australian Medical Association president Rosanna Capolingua says for Reuters, adding that the minimum BMI should be set at 20.