She is 39 years old and the mother of two children.
Of Iranian origin, she has brown and curly hair.
Some will applaud her, because Apameh Schönauer has just won the title of Miss Germany 2024, against eight other finalists, thumbing her nose at all beauty standards.
Others preferred to shout behind their keyboard, through a veritable smear campaign mixing racism, youthism and misogyny.
“A 38-year-old oriental pudding”, “Miss Germany is the result of 12 years of wokism, leftism and deconstruction”, “When you see Miss Germany 2024 you begin to understand the immense wisdom of the Taliban in matters of clothing for the women of their region", we read on X. Added to its virulent criticism, photos of former Misses, carbon copies of Margot Robbie in
Barbie
.
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The keys to supporting women in their working lives
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Not surprisingly, Apameh Schönauer is therefore criticized for resembling the “girl next door” rather than Emily Ratjakowski or Claudia Schiffer.
Ersatz of her colleagues, the one who has lived in Germany since the age of 6 - she was born in Tehran - also leads the modest life of this “girl next door”.
Mother of two children, she is an architect by training and fills her free time by fully committing to the causes that are dear to her.
She is notably the founder of a support and mutual aid network called Shirzan (which means “lion woman”) in favor of oppressed women, recalls the daily
Tagesspiegel
.
“We moved to Germany so that my sister and I could live in freedom, the path was not easy,” declared the evening of her election the one who today pleads “in favor of diversity”.
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Reform in 2019
In reality, Apameh Schönauer was elected on the basis of new criteria decreed in 2019, after a reform of the competition.
The crown is now banned in favor of the sash.
The idea?
Understand that the “Miss” are no longer “queens” corresponding to the clichés of feminine beauty.
And since appearance is no longer the focus, several stages of the event have been removed, including the taking of measurements and the parade in a bikini.
We now look at commitment, creativity and personality traits.
We reward work and not innateness.
Why, then, not be married, have children, even be pregnant, and celebrate your 40th birthday?
Other countries are also trying to adapt little by little to new customs.
But if beauty pageants continue to evolve internally, part of the public does not yet seem to be ready for such changes.
In France, Eve Gilles was heavily criticized after her election in December 2023, because of her “boy haircut” and her “lack of shape” – including chest.
Here again, she was an exception.
The first woman with short hair to be crowned Miss France, she marked the beginning of an era and the end of another, finding herself the target of cyberharassment.
Three weeks later, Miss Japan renounced her title following a wave of hatred because of her Ukrainian origins.