The Miss France Committee seems to have finally decided to live with the times and forget its old old-fashioned values. For the 2023 edition of the beauty contest, most of the old rules imposed on candidates have been lifted, in particular the one which prohibited them from having founded a family before their election. This allows Victoire Rousselot to be the first mother and married woman to stand for the election of Miss Alsace, in the hope of representing her region at the high mass next December.
For several years now, the election of Miss France has been the victim of numerous criticisms. The beauty contest, which each year elects the woman who will represent France in various events, is cataloged as sexist, because it focuses above all on physical appearance, even if the people in charge of the committee regularly remind that candidates must also complete a general culture questionnaire, and know how to behave in society to meet the values advocated by the title. But for the 2023 edition, the rules have changed. A godsend for Victoire Rousselot.
Victoire Rousselot, dental assistant, wife, mother and future Miss?
On Instagram, the 27-year-old recently announced good news to her subscribers: “It is an honor for me to officially announce my candidacy for Miss Alsace.” A necessary passage to then be able to claim the title of Miss France. Victoire Rousselot takes the opportunity to introduce herself to the general public, saying: “I am 27 years old and I live in Barr in the Bas Rhin. I am currently a dental assistant. I had the chance to live for several years in abroad, particularly in the Republic of Congo and the United States, but Alsace has always been in my heart. This is why I naturally returned to it to build my future.”
The young woman also specifies: “Being elected Miss Alsace would be an opportunity for me to represent modern women while preserving the traditional values of the competition. It is important to me to prove that it is possible to combine a professional career and family life. by being the first Miss Mom and Bride.” Mother of a little girl, she is delighted to be able to participate in this great adventure, and has already received many messages of support.
How can she participate in Miss France?
For many years, the rules in force to participate in the Miss France election were particularly restrictive. According to the official rules of the competition presented on the site of Maître Simonin, the bailiff in charge of the smooth running of the election, the candidates had to meet the following criteria:
– Be of French nationality;
– Be registered in the civil status as being female;
– Not being or having been married or in a civil partnership, not having children;
– Be a minimum height of 1m70 (one meter seventy) without heels;
– Do not wear any piercing or visible tattoo, being understood as any tattoo whose tattooed surface is greater than three (3) centimeters in diameter, which cannot be concealed and/or which would be placed on the face, neck and/or the cleavage ;
– Not having had plastic surgery (except for purely restorative surgery)
And this without forgetting all the rules concerning the non-participation in events, contests or photo and video shoots which would not be in line with the values of Miss France. Only here, these pointed conditions had been pointed out in 2021, and the Miss France election had been attacked in court. In the documents sent to the industrial tribunal of Bobigny, the applicants deplored that Endemol “uses women to produce an extremely lucrative audiovisual program while flouting labor law” with criteria imposed on candidates which would indeed be contrary to the Labor Code, “which prohibits any form of discrimination relating to morals, age, family status, pregnancy, genetic characteristics, political opinions and physical appearance”, according to the lawyer of the association Dare feminism.
Also, during the press conference for the election of Miss France 2022, Alexia Laroche-Joubert had announced: “Since my appointment as president of the Miss France company, we have worked, with the teams, on the editorial line of the program and the conditions of production. This has artistic, technical and legal consequences. This is why this year, the 29 misses who will parade on the evening of December 11 on the antenna of TF1 will have employment contracts.”
The changes did not stop there since now, only the rules requiring candidates for the title to be more than 1m70 without heels, to be of French nationality and to be registered in the civil status as being female are still in effect. There is no longer an age limit or a ban on being married, in a civil partnership or a mother. At 27, married and a mother, Victoire Rousselot therefore benefits from the end of all these rules to be able to try her luck in the adventure, taking advantage of an evolution that will have been long overdue.
A few reviews
However, the announcement of the candidate did not earn her only congratulations. Some people wonder about this evolution of rules established for several decades, and wonder if a life of mother of a family is really compatible with the life of Miss France. The most virulent, however, come from Michel Leparmentier Second, President of the Miss National Committee (direct competitor of Miss France created by Geneviève de Fontenay after her resignation from the Miss France Society, editor’s note), who affirms: “The Miss National Committee notes that the company Miss France comes completely out of the selection criteria for the election of Miss France established since 1954”, urging the dissatisfied to participate in Madame France, a competition “reserved for young women and French women aged 25 to 55, single, married, divorced or widowed with or without children without height size limit.”
Other Internet users supported his statement by saying in particular: “It’s serious nonsense. It’s no longer a competition but a kind of come as you are, like the slogan of McDonald’s. Let’s learn to dissociate the corridors The Miss France competition is there to elect the prettiest young lady in France among those who did not appear among all the French women.”
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