Miss Pullukka

Miss Pullukka 1973, Rauha Sanna Koli

Finnish sensation magazine Hymy (which you can find represented at pHinnWeb's FinnSleaze page) organised its first Miss Pullukka (translating as "Miss Plump" or "Miss Tubby") contest in 1972. Hymy articulated its goal to criticize beauty norms very clearly in its opening declaration of Miss Pullukka contest: "Us here in Hymy magazine think that a girl does not have to be stick-thin, curveless model type to be beautiful, feminine and attractive." "When we discuss women's equal rights, we should also enforce equality between women by crushing today's misleading ideas of beauty." "We are organizing a very own contest for the big, plump, genuinely womanly women, where the common beauty queen measurements are unacceptable." "The contest is open for all round Finnish women, Miss or Mrs." "The contest costume is free, but a soft, girlish posture is an advantage." (Hymy 12/1972).

Finland's Miss Pullukka, Rauha Sanna Koli, was not chosen by reader's vote, although that was the original purpose, but "the jury was so won over by her voluptuousness and uninhibited behavior that the case was clear without voting" (Hymy 2/1973). Rauha's age and weight were not told, but she was clearly more excessively fat than any of the present-day Miss XLs and probably over 50 years old, a divorcee with three children.

The finalists' ages varied from thirty-something to sixty-something, and their sizes varied greatly as well. Some of them were "on the edge of being too slim" according to the magazine -– Rauha, the winner, was possibly from the fattest end of the contestants. The published pictures of the finalists were the same ones they had sent for the contest, but Rauha was photographed especially by the magazine in the nude. The nude photos of Rauha were by no means pornographic, but they were meant to be shocking without doubt: "There is hardly anyone in our readers who could ignore these photos without any reaction, without any expression, without any emotion".

In the biggest of the three photos of Rauha, she is looking in a fake innocent manner over her shoulder, standing up sideways, with her whole body in the picture, hands crossed over the breasts, and her hip pushed out. In an another picture she is kneeling down, and her breasts hang over her other knee. In the third picture she faces the camera and holds her breasts up, laughing. Hymy tells that Miss Pullukka contest was a success with hundreds of participants and many thank-you letters from readers, but for some reason the contest was not organized again.