Eighteen pounds.

Is it what separates beauty from bovine? Gorgeous from gargantuan?

According to many the answer is a resounding “YES.” And it’s the “YES” heard ’round the universe.

You may have heard about the new Miss Universe, Alicia Machado from Venezuela, and the pageant organizers who have threatened to take away her crown.

Why? Because the most beautiful woman, inside and out, of all the planets in the universe, put on some pounds. Eighteen of them since she won her title in May.

Alicia now stands at 5 feet, seven inches tall and weighs 130 pounds.

The pageant officials have denied ever telling Machado to lose it or lose it, but at least one American official has said that Machado looked chubby in her swimming suit.

So she looks chubby in her swimming suit. So does that mean that we just forget that she passed all of the other criteria in the contest with flying colors, including the personality interview? So we just forget that she won the pageant for a reason? Apparently Alicia’s new weight is just too overshadowing to some.

I was always told that pageants aren’t just about beauty on the outside. No. Pageants are about a total person whose charm and beauty encompasses every facet of their life. Contestants are not only attractive, but also have attractive personalities.

And that’s what beauty pageant bigwigs everywhere toted, also. I guess somewhere there’s been some miscommunication. Or else a huge facade has been lowered to reveal the real world of professional beauty to show us how really ugly that world is. I’d vote for the latter.

I’m sure everyone at some point in their lives has experienced some weight gain. For many the cellulite hit during those dreadful junior high years.

For another few, including myself, the freshman fifteen set in when you kept eating like you did in high school, but found yourself sitting on the couch a lot more.

And for those who drink way too much, wait ’til you’re forty and then you’ll see the fruits of your college days settle in as a beer belly and you’ll always wonder if you’ll ever see your feet again.

Gaining weight happens to everybody. It’s natural. There are certainly ways to combat putting on the pounds. Exercise regularly. Eat a good diet.

But a lot of women and men today are turning to easier ways to keep unwanted weight off just like the women and men fifty years before. They binge and purge and they starve themselves.

It’s not only confined to the world of pageants. It’s right here in Iowa. The professional arena football team, the “Iowa Barnstormers,” is into entertainment. They put on a show you wouldn’t believe. Fireworks, hard-hitting, fast-paced football, and plenty of cheerleaders to make you spirited or stimulated, whichever you prefer.

I’m one of those cheerleaders and am proud of what I do. I practice at least once a week in Des Moines, which really makes me have to budget my time.

Some days the only thing to grab to eat is a Snickers bar or maybe a can of pop, but when I get home I always make sure I eat something good.

All season long I was witness to very thin girls deathly afraid of gaining weight. One incident I vividly remember is when one of my friends on the squad said to me that she was so hungry because she hadn’t eaten much all day. She then said, “Time to have supper,” and pulled out a piece of gum and smiled.

I was confused and asked her if that was all she was having to eat. She said that yes, it was.

It wasn’t the last time that would happen. I then realized that how many cheerleaders starved themselves to look the way they do. I should say that others just watched what they ate and worked out regularly to keep in shape.

At the Barnstormers there was real pressure to keep the weight off.

We even had to sign a clause in our professional cheerleading contracts that gave the Barnstormers permission to pull us off the squad at any time because of weight gain or if they felt we weren’t attractive enough.

Eating disorders are nothing new. Neither is getting treated in accordance to how good you look. Both have been around for years. And they’ll both probably be around as long as gaining weight equals unattractiveness, laziness, and lack of intelligence.

I’d rather look chubby in my swimming suit for awhile and eat that chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, than stick a piece of gum in my mouth and smile any day of the week in any universe.

And if you think about the word “gorgeous,” it derives from the word “gorge,” as in to eat greedily or stuff to capacity.

Just some food for thought.

April Samp is a junior in journalism mass communication from Eldora.