I really don't understand why this was such an issue. Yes, if you're being shallow, Theron blows Stewart out of the water. But in the context of the move:

- The evil queen's beauty is artificial
- Inner beauty - the queen was beautiful but her soul was ugly

But everybody kept focusing on the superficial. I don't think it was sexism (though, there was probably some of that - women constantly get their worth judged based on their looks) so much as people just have an irrational hatred of KS.