Bigger is better at `Miss Fat South Africa' beauty pageant

Jet, May 20, 2002

The beauty contestants strut their stuff on the catwalk, moving with the attitude, grace and finesse of the world's finest high-fashion supermodels.

But this runway is not in New York, Paris or Milan. It is in South Africa.

And the women "workin' it" are not a size 6. In fact, practically no one in this annual competition wears less than a size 16.

After all, this is the Miss Fat South Africa beauty pageant, and on this stage, the bigger you are, the better your chances of winning.

"If you can look back, Our great-grandfathers and grandfathers and still fathers today, they used to look for such an asset in a woman," revealed former Miss Fat South Africa Dipou Rantai, ABC World News Tonight reported. "They used to regard women with fuller figures as strong, able to look after their families...."

Like other similar pageants in African nations, and around the globe, Miss Fat South Africa is held to reinforce African values and traditions of beauty despite the growing influence of Western culture, which touts super-slim shapes as the beauty standard.

"The media has put too much pressure on the women with bigger bodies," said Rantai, World News Tonight reported. "Women with bigger bodies are now fighting for respect."

And pageants like Miss Fat South Africa are aiming to do just that.

--World News Tonight-ABC Photos