Doctor, Beat It: Miss Australia Stephanie Naumoska Accused Of Being Anorexic

No big, publicized beauty pageant can slowly fade into the annals of pop culture history without some idle speculation into the health and eating habits of a contestant or two. Last year, Miss Universe winner and former Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza was criticized in the Latin American press for her slim physique, and now it’s Miss Australia’s turn to be the object of gossip masked as concern.

Nineteen-year-old Stephanie Naumoska is 5 foot 11 and weighs 108 pounds. She is, without a doubt, extremely thin. It’s the mandates from strangers and unsolicited advice presented as helpful concern instead of intrusive speculation that annoys us about these discussions on her weight. For example, according to a dietician who spoke to various media outlets but does not treat - and has not met - Naumoska:

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.

No, actually. She doesn’t need any of that. She can decide that she would like to undergo such tests if she fears of her health, but dispensing medical advice without treating someone as a patient - or knowing anything about her health other than what her appearance may lead you to assume - is obnoxious at best and, at worst, risky.

Say, for the sake of argument, that Stephanie did suffer from an eating disorder, or that she did have young, impressionable fans who looked to her as thinspiration. Does constantly reducing these women to their weight help them to get better? Does throwing out numbers help them to stop fixating on them? No. Of course not. It’s sensationalistic and counter-productive. 

Also obnoxious? Pageant director Deborah Miller attempts to explain Stephanie’s smallness in terms of her Macedonian heritage:

They have long, lithe bodies and small bones. It is their body type, just like Asian girls tend to be small.

This, of course, calls to mind the tendency for people - Latino and otherwise - to make sweeping statements about what a “real woman” or a “real Latina’s body” looks like. “Real women have curves!,” despite what many may think, is not a positive statement. Real women know better than to build themselves up by putting others down and don’t take it upon themselves to speak for others.

Which brings us back to Miss Oz: Why are so many so intent on taking away this woman’s voice and autonomy? If they have an issue with her body, which absolutely be valid and appropriate given she recently competed at an event promoting “healthy, proportioned bodies,” their argument would do better were it not focused so intently on issues projected onto her but, rather, health issues in general. The focus of the public, based on the nature of Stephanie’s chosen industry, is going to be on her body. But to mask it as an issue of health? Come on. Big women, tiny women and muscular women can all be healthy and… have proportions? Say she promotes an unrealistic standard of female beauty. Say her body isn’t representative of those of many healthy women. But don’t try and make sizism and body snarking palatable by wringing your hands over her health. Doing so makes your head look fat. No offense.

Miss Universe Australia in “skinny” controversy [The Vancouver Sun]