Aëla Chanel, a 33-year-old transgender woman, participated in the Miss Isère election on February 18, 2023, qualifying for Miss France 2024. She tells MCE her very poignant fight to become a woman.
A transgender candidate for Miss France
This is the second transgender candidate for Miss France! After Andréa Furet in 2022Aëla Chanel, 33, took part on February 18 in the election of Miss Isèrequalifier for Miss France 2024.
Indeed, since 2022, the most famous of French beauty contests has opened its doors to transgender candidates, married women, mothers and women over the age of 25.
Elected Miss Trans France 2020, Aëla Chanel therefore wanted to try her luck to Miss France. She thus participated in the Miss Isère departmental election.
Beyond wanting to become a beauty queen, the young woman wishes leverage your visibility for the transgender cause. “I realized that I had no role models for transgender women growing up”she tells us.
Unsurprisingly, her participation in Miss Isère raised some new questions, especially for the departmental committee. “They checked that I corresponded to the selection criteria. That’s to say if I had feminine papers, because it is one of the conditions to be fulfilled, if I had had cosmetic surgery… »explains the one who dreams of becoming Miss France 2024.
Regarding surgery, things are a bit complicated. Indeed, applicants who have undergone surgery are not accepted in the Miss France adventure. However, in a gender transition process, there is necessarily surgery.
“My surgery corresponds to my treatment protocol, so it is covered by Social Security. From there it’s medicalso it wasn’t a problem., explains Aela Chanel. AIO Information tells you more!
Aëla Chanel recounts her fight to become a woman
Before the beauty contests and Miss France, not everything was rosy for Aela Chanel. Indeed, the young woman tells us that she grew up in a binary society where transidentity did not yet have its place.
“I understood that I was a transgender person at 7 years old. I had a very strong discomfort. At the time, I was living in Haute-Savoie, so in the very remote countryside, in the 90s. It was not at all the same society. We were in a hyper binary system”she explains.
And to continue: “It’s hard from there to realize who you are when you’re outside of that thought pattern. Me, I didn’t exist. That’s what was the hardest. The first thing is to understand who we are.”.
In her transition journey, the one who dreamed of being Miss France 2024 also tells of having been victim of discrimination. Especially in the workplace!
Today, the young woman, who lives in Paris, says she is fulfilled. Even if, according to her, the road is still long. She assures that transphobia and clichés are still present. Especially in the love life of transgender people.
“On the one hand, there’s a lot of transphobia, it’s frowned upon to date a transgender person. But at the same time, there is a hypersexualization of the transgender woman. It’s a popular sexual fantasy.”believes the candidate for Miss France.
And to conclude: ” We are dehumanized. We become objects of fantasy in fact, that’s really it. We forget that in front of us, there is a person who feels things, who is a human being. It’s one of the big problems today.”. A touching testimony to discover in full on MCE’s YouTube channel (see video above)!
