After having taken part in Natural Beauty by Impressione last weekend I came across this in Hamlet Au's excellent New World Notes.
Iris Ophelia raises a very important point when she said:
"I don't want to be Little Miss Teardown...but this is very much the dark side of SL aesthetics... Beauty is what leads to the bad feelings...
"When you pick someone over someone else, you aren't just saying that God made x more beautiful that y and that's life and nature. You're saying x is a more talented individual than y, and at the same time making the same associations emotionally that it would have in real life.
"Calling someone ugly in SL is worse than doing it in RL because they have complete control in SL, and don't in RL."
Yes, beauty is a very emotional issue for women irl and SL. Maybe more so in SL because as Iris correctly pointed out we have complete control over our appearance and that levels the playing field for those of us not blessed by having attractive forbears in our family tree.At first blush it does seem like having an SL Beauty contest is a disaster waiting to happen.
While there are a lot of Beauty and modeling competitions in SL (Top Model, Product sponsored things and the like) the Natural Beauty contest was very different, especially when it came down to the finals.
We were asked to prepare 2 looks: one reflecting Sl and one reflecting RL.
Those who are familiar with the backstage goings on of catwalk shows or Beauty pageants will know there is a lot of chatter and excitement that goes on throughout the event.
It was the same during the Natural Beauty rehearsals till the time came when we changed into our RL looks in front of each other for the first time.
Even for someone like me who is hearing impaired irl I could feel the silence that accompanied the change.
It was the scariest thing I've ever done in SL.
We were fully clothed but at the same time more naked than we've ever been.
This was us.
The real us.
I've never felt more exposed or vulnerable in my life.
As I looked around and saw the real selves of the women behind the keyboards I felt the tears come.
Because it didn't matter now if I won.
It was an honour just to be with these women who were brave enough to choose to share what they were like irl.
And in that moment we were all embodiments of the truest beauty of all: ourselves.
It may sound like a cliche but I felt like a winner just for participating.
And when the contest is about the true beauty that resides in each and every woman, we are all winners.
Many thanks and much love to the well deserved winners of the Natural Beauty Contest: Mavi Beck, Rhi Rossini and Adriana Princess as well as the other beautiful finalists: Callipygian Christensen, Kalia Meiklejohn, Sami Kutanaga, SweetVicky Voom, Zoe Demar.
A big shoutout and uber thanks and love to the Impressione team that made it happen and showed that true beauty comes from within: JennyH GossipGirl, Bex Hathaway, Genna Gray and Channen GossipGirl for thinking of me and sending me an application form.
And all my love and gratitude to Kara Foley my partner and soulmate and to Tillie Ariantho, my BFF.
Take care and stay safe, dearest friend and reader.
