Throughout history, beauty contests have been a type of event widely consumed by society, especially in the election of misses. They mainly value the physique of the girls and boys who present themselves, always beautiful, young people with a normative body. No overweight, wrinkles or any other "imperfection" that does not fall within what is socially accepted.
However, with the passage of the years and the change in mentality of society, these contests have been declining. In the case of Lanzarote, the Miss Arrecife election gala that chose the queen of the San Ginés festivities was held for the last time in 2018, since in 2019 the City Council decided not to organize it anymore.
Today, different neighborhoods of the city organize these contests to elect a particular miss within the popular festivals.
Last week, El Almacén hosted the talk-gala Misses, counterculture and popular art, which brought to the present what happened with the controversial election gala of misses held during the San Ginés festivities in Arrecife in 2000. In it, the candidates denounced an alleged fix where they affirmed that "the winner was already chosen before the contest began." Therefore, they denounced it in the media.
Pedro Ayose Reyes, actor and director, was one of the protagonists of this talk-gala, together with Cristóbal Tabares and the writer Mare Cabrera. According to him, "this represented a bit of the dark and corrupt part that society has." In addition, he describes the decision of these misses to denounce the facts as "something very brave because they were young and were there to fulfill a dream or have a good time, so I think we have to vindicate the figure of these women who gave visibility to this situation."
What happened in this gala of 2000 also had to do with the little credibility that many of the candidates gave to the contest. "Helen Lindes, the Spanish model, became Miss Spain in March of that same year, and she participated a few years before in the Miss Lanzarote gala and did not win, so I think this also encouraged the girls to claim certain things," says Reyes.
Seeing the beauty contests of the past with the current look
During the talk-gala in El Almacén, the misses contests in Lanzarote were treated from the past perspective, not with the look of today's society. And it is that this type of events meant a lot to the people of Lanzarote decades ago.
"The good thing about time having passed is that something like this becomes something iconic and that we know how to see the fun," declares the actor.
Choosing the misses was an intrinsic part of the popular festivals and, in the case of Miss Lanzarote, it was a highly anticipated event for many girls who dreamed of being crowned as the most beautiful woman on the island.
This brought, as it currently happens in Miss Spain or Miss Universe, job opportunities that, unintentionally or not, were one of the biggest prizes of competing and winning.
The society of Lanzarote 25 years ago had another mentality and in which feminism, for example, was barely installed in everyone's head. However, currently the evolution of society is something evident in terms of thinking and the movement for equality governs more than ever different aspects of society such as beauty contests.
Many show their rejection of the election of misses, and also of mister, for being an event in which only the "perfect" physique is valued. One that is normative. But the reality is that you cannot look at the past with the perspective of the year 2025. Everything evolves, for worse or better, but it changes, and what 50 years ago was well seen, now may not be.
In the 21st century, these contests still have a large audience as the island of Lanzarote had despite the feminist look that counteracts with the beauty and perfect bodies that social networks promote. Currently, the struggle between leaving behind the fact of rewarding bodies and the dissemination of the idea of appearances and posing continues, and it does not seem that it will stop.
When Miss Spain was held in Lanzarote
The fervor to choose the most beautiful woman in Spain arrived in Lanzarote for the first time in 1973, although it would do so again years later, in 1987.
In the images recorded in 1973, you can see how the candidate misses visited different corners of the island, such as Timanfaya, the Jameos del Agua or riding on the camels of the National Park.
José Luis Uribarri was the presenter of this gala, where the Malaga native Amparo Muñoz was proclaimed Miss Spain and, therefore, would be the Spanish candidate to participate and represent the country in Miss Universe.
In the case of the second time that the national contest stepped on Lanzarote, in 1987, which was held in Costa Teguise and where the Gran Canaria native Sonsoles Artigas became Miss Spain.