I just read this article on nymag.com and although I applaud it and think that it has all the best intentions, I keep asking myself, "Is this really a good thing for young girls self esteem?"
These women are beautiful, just like all models (just like all women), but there is something unsettling about this. These women are considered for all intents and purposes, the fat models in the industry. Most girls in the industry of life would kill to be a size 8. Most girls in the industry of life aren't built to be a size 8. What do we hear over and over again? The average woman in this country wears a size 12. And sizes? In this country? Completely ambiguous. I have worn a size 10 for years, I will probably die a size 10 and I'm pretty sure I was born one as well, but there are stores that I go into and can't fit a calf into a size 10 (or a 12). Off day? Bad cut? I don't know.
But my point is...how can we learn to love ourselves when we are constantly reading articles about girls who we are just starting to love because there is this new niche in the industry. I see a 16 year old Lyndsey looking at these photos and saying "If she is plus size, I must be obese." I see a lot of trauma for a teenager or for a twenty something who has never accepted her body for how beautiful it really is. All of us treat our bodies like you know what. We are binge drinkers and smokers. We eat too much meat and stay up too late. We starve ourselves to fit into a dress for an occasion. We take pills. We take the bus. We put too much emphasis on other people's opinions of our body. So how can we expect our bodies to respect us? I am guilty on almost all counts. I have been through every phase imaginable trying to make my body into something that it SHOULD be. Something that other people wanted to admire. Am I over that? Absolutely not. I work out instead of doing school work, I drink green and hibicus tea by the gallon because it'll flush me. I've thrown my food up, I think we all have, and I'm not saying that it's right. But none of us are perfect, right? So why do we expect our bodies to be perfect?
Reign it in, Lynds. Getting off topic.
Anyway, what I mean to say is that while I think it's wonderful that models come in many shapes and sizes now, I think that we need to reevaluate why were have models that come in many shapes and sizes and figure out how we can incorporate not just many, but ALL shapes and sizes. It's a tough life, being a lady. You live a life of paradoxes. And food and fashion is only one of them.
So I end on this, maybe we should all listen to our bodies a little bit more. Maybe if we learned to respect them, they would do us a favor once in a while too. But again, just a thought.
xoxo
LCF
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