Differently sexy, equally beautiful

by Ivano Abbadessa - 2012.12.10

A few weeks ago, People, one of the magazines most renown and read in the world, included Oscar Pistorius on the annual “Sexiest Man Alive” list at rank no. 8, just behind Richard Gere and Matt Bomer and before Denzell Washington and Damian Lewis. It is the first time that the super-slick list of Hollywood actors and models features a person who turned his disability into an ability.



Yet, this is not the first time that an initiative unveils, rather than hiding, a disabled body. A few years ago, the no-profit Belgian organization Cap 48 launched an information campaign called Regard starring the stunning 35-year-old Tanja Kiewitz in a poster hitting off a 1994 advertising with Eva Herzigova, saying “Look me in the eyes… I said in the eyes”. In bra, bright smile and sinuous body, she nudged people’s eyes not to fall on the prejudice of a single arm handicap, but could judge her beauty in its entirety.



Pistorius is also objectively handsome, very handsome, but with an imperfect body. He is used to modify clichés, break the barriers and to change one’s point of view. He started to do so in sport, and today the message received is that the body triumphs even when is not perfect, thus changing the perception of what is beautiful and sexy. In Italy as well, the aesthetic approach is changing. The finale of the II edition of “Mister & Miss Deaf 2012” was held last 1 December,. The event, who saw Alessio Zappacosta, 29, from Abruzzi, and Angela Bombardi, 25, from Veneto, as respective winners, is the first in Italy and has been introduced by Anny Tronco, deaf artist and President of the Alphabet Onlus Association. The beauty contest, gathering boys and girls from across Italy, was developed and produced as a moment of integration between deaf and hearing persons, with the deaf as protagonists.



Initiatives like those described above allow them to get out from the invisibility they have been trapped into for too much time, denying their right to be sensual, attractive, especially in public environments. Getting rid of the perfection stereotype and looking at others beyond how they look like, considering them for what they really are: human beings with their own aspirations, desires, and characteristics is a goal to be achieved. There is still a lot to do, but a substantial change in the notion of aesthetics has already begun.