Plus Size Modeling

Now this is what I'm talking about. I had not heard of Kate Dillon specifically before buying Vogue tonight, but have recently been fascinated with the idea of "plus size" modeling and really enjoyed this article, feeling as though I can relate to her. This was featured in Glamour back in the fall, and I'm thinking, can't we get a little more of that? Enough with the models whose ribs are sticking out, who haven't and will never reach true puberty, who don't have one curve on their whole body. Sorry, men, it's not beautiful, it's not what women should (or even really do) look like, it's not healthy, and it's not fair.

When I was 15 years old, I decided I was fat. Size 6. Nobody told me I was. I wasn't even the biggest among my friends, I just knew I wasn't skinny enough. I even used to be jealous of anorexic girls, at least they were skinny! Oh how I wish I could take back those months and years I struggled, because I believe that they harmed me so much. I wish I could have known how little it mattered. I wish I could have known how negatively it would affect me even today.

It's sad to me that what I believe to be normal is considered plus size, but it is progress nonetheless. We can at least see some normal, healthy women in the glossy pages of magazines, even they are just the token "big girl." What woman doesn't struggle with her body image? Who doesn't look in the mirror and cry once in awhile? And really, what woman loves, I mean really loves her body? We compare ourselves to the super skinny, super tall models on the covers of magazines and don't even realize that there is nothing normal about being that skinny, especially if you are a tall woman. Ellen DeGeneres on her show featuring plus size models states tongue-in-cheek that size 0 = eating disorder-- and for the most part, I would agree. Why do we even need to be so skinny? Logically it doesn't make sense. I don't even think you can have a true period when you are so skinny. How healthy is that?

Do I still wish I was skinny? You bet. I'm not sure I'll ever really appreciate my body, or stop wishing to look like a model. It sucks! But I suppose it's life.