Curvy is beautiful. Slowly but surely, society has begun to accept more than just size 0 models and here’s a milestone to mark the change: February 9 marks the release of a historical Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue — one that features not one, but two plus-sized models.
The first is Ashley Graham, size 16 (above), who stars in an ad for the swimsuit brand swimsuitsforall. She’s long been a proponent of body positivity and embracing your curves:
There’s too much anorexia, obesity and suicide in this generation and nobody is addressing the issue. Young girls don’t have much to look at, curvy women are not on covers of magazines, they’re not talked about on social media as much as other celebrities. Jennifer Lawrence is the media’s poster girl for curves — [but] she’s tiny.
-Ashley Graham, for The Edit magazine
She brings up a good point — Hollywood idols like Jennifer Lawrence may be “curvy” compared the rest of the stick-thin celebrities, but they are by no means realistic role models for many women. Even Robyn Lawley, the first plus-sized woman to be a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, is a size 12 but doesn’t even consider herself plus-sized:
I don’t know if I consider myself as a plus-size model or not… I just consider myself a model because I’m trying to help women in general accept their bodies.
-Robyn Lawley, as told to TIME Magazine
The average American woman is a size 14, two sizes larger than Lawley. What both these women understand is that “plus-sized” is a just a label and that they do not need to let that label define who they are.
Curvy is beautiful, skinny is beautiful and everything in-between is beautiful. These women are inspiring role models who advocate for one thing: health over looks. If you’re happy with your size, why change? If you’re healthy, why change? This year has been a year heavy with body image debate, from skinny shaming to fat shaming. Don’t let society dictate whether or not you’re beautiful, because if there’s one truth in this world, it is that we all are beautiful. Thankfully, it seems Sports Illustrated is making one step in the right direction.
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