The winner of the Miss France beauty pageant has hit out at critics who called her “androgynous” looks and short hair “woke” by saying she is “not just a haircut”.
Eve Gilles, 20, from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern France was crowned in front of 7.5 million TV viewers Saturday night.
However, her victory sparked a bizarre row among some commentators, who accused the pageant of going “woke” by choosing Ms Giles, who has a short, pixie-cut hairstyle.
But speaking to French outlet TF1, she said: “I am human, inevitably criticism affects and hurts me. My body is the way it is. Whether I like it or not, that's how I am. If people don't like it, they don't like me and that's it.
“You can't please everyone and that's normal. You have to accept yourself and ignore all the criticism even if it's difficult.”
Miss France’s score was split 50/50 between the public and a judge panel of seven women, putting her in only third place in the public vote.
Viewers criticised her victory and complaints flooded social media, many slamming the judge panel as “woke.”
One user wrote: “Making people believe that the most beautiful woman in France looks like a man is woke.”
Another said: “Miss France is no longer a beauty contest but a woke contest which is based on inclusiveness.”
However, many people quickly came to her defence, calling the woke accusations “ridiculous.”
One user wrote: “The subject this morning is really to be outraged that Miss France 2024 has short hair...? And that would be woke…? Are you serious people? Louise Brooks, Coco Chanel, Colette, Mistinguett… does that mean anything to you or are you completely uneducated?.”
"Maybe the new #MissFrance isn’t gorgeous in your eyes, but seeing wokeism in her because she has short hair.... It’s just ridiculous,” another user said.
Ms Gilles’ victory comes less than a week after the French broadcaster TF1 and TV production house Endemolto have been ordered to compensate two contestants after images of their breasts made it on air.
The pageant show has tried to “modernise” itself in recent years by relaxing the age limit and allowing transgender women to enter.
