I am a curvy lady. I wear size 12/14 jeans and always need a belt because my waist is smaller than my hips. Bodysuits? They’re super cute on the rare occasion I can find one that fits. Dresses are always too baggy in the stomach or too tight for my hips. Moreover, I’ve had these curves since I was literally 12.
Honestly, I used to hate my body. I remember looking at myself in the mirror in high school and trying to tilt my hips back far enough to create a “thigh gap.” I’d hide my body under baggy clothes. I never wore shorts in the summer and I avoided swimsuit situations at all cost.
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It seems silly to me now, looking back on it. I’ve grown to love my curves and to honestly love my body, rolls and dimples included. But every once in a while there’s a pang of longing to be smaller, more fit, or more toned, especially when I’m bombarded on the daily with airbrushed and photoshopped images of “ideal women” in the media. Thankfully, #bodypositivity is a thing, and bodily diversity is a movement that’s gaining some traction in the media.
Why is Diversity in the Media Important?
This question basically hits at the very reason marketing exists: so consumers will buy a product. And how do you convince the consumer they need the product? Show them what it means to have it.
That’s the gist of it, people. We see crazy attractive models advertising the newest trends in fashion, accessories, perfume, and everywhere else, and we want to be them. So we buy the product. It works, but it’s also a depressing system. We’ve been so cultured to feel “less than” that we’re never satisfied with ourselves, especially when it comes to body image.
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A few years ago I was a volunteer small group leader for a group of middle school girls at my church’s youth group. I was in middle school before smartphones were a thing, so even though I still saw plenty of ads on the daily, it didn’t even come close to what teens are seeing on social media today constantly. And man oh man, what I saw and heard from my small group girls broke my heart on a regular basis. They were constantly down on themselves — talking about beautiful girls on Instagram and TikTok, making negative comments about their own appearances, and even literally curling in on themselves when they’d sit, as if to hide as much of themselves as they could.
It doesn’t help that most teen dramas over the last 30 years or so have featured teens played by white adults with rockin’ bods (think Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale). We watch these shows as kids and teens and we can’t picture ourselves in their schools because nobody represents us. And if nobody ever represents the average Joe (or Joanne), what does that say about us? Not just that we’re average, no — it says that, in the sphere of the ideal, we have no place. We don’t even exist. And there’s strong evidence to suggest that all of this compounded has devastating effects on adolescents — from dangerous eating disorders to major anxiety and depression.
Curves on the Cover
You may remember when Aerie started their Aerie Real campaign back in 2014. I know I do. I remember seeing Aerie ads on the internet that featured women and their “imperfections,” curvy models included. I was honestly shocked and figured that Aerie’s commitment to untouched ads would be a passing fad — but it wasn’t. The above video is just one of the latest examples of how Aerie has stuck to this commitment.
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Ashley Graham
In 2016 Sports Illustrated jumped on the bandwagon by putting Ashley Graham on the cover of a swimsuit edition. Graham is undeniably beautiful and curvalicious. Though a lot of the feedback about the cover was positive, negative comments still managed to filter their way through. Some people even said Graham was promoting obesity. And Graham has a smaller waist than I do. And I’m not obese.
Ali Chanel
Most recently, we have Ali Chanel as Playboy’s curviest Playmate. And let me tell you right the heck now that women like me are rejoicing over this. I’ve never particularly wanted to be a Playboy model (the idea of being immortalized in print naked? Anxiety!), but regardless, I always knew that I never could even if I did want to — I was too big. Size 12, curvy models would never make the cover of Playboy. Right? Wrong. Y’all, I just looked up Ali Chanel’s measurements to make sure I had my facts straight, and we have the exact same waist and hip measurements. We wear the same size clothes and shoes. We’re exactly the same height. And I cannot tell you what that means to me.
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Beyond Bodies
But diversity in the media isn’t all about putting curvy models on magazine covers. There are tons of underrepresented groups — people who are Black, Latino, disabled, have a genetic disorder, and tons of others have historically gotten little publicity (if any at all). And when we do see a minority/disabled/other traditionally underrepresented group in entertainment, it’s often in the form of a token character that is misrepresented or just plays off of stereotypes. Luckily, the tide is starting to change here as well — too bad it’s going crazy slow.
I’m obsessed with Jamie Brewer. Brewer is a phenomenal actress with Down Syndrome, and you may have seen her in American Horror Story seasons 1 and 3. In season 3, Coven, she plays a witch. Not a Down Syndrome witch. Not a disabled witch. Just a witch. And honestly, this is groundbreaking, and I’m so moved that other people with Down Syndrome can watch Brewer star in a phenomenal role.
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Brewer also started killing it on the runway, breaking down the barriers for other models with Down Syndrome to enter the modeling industry. Madeline Stuart quickly followed and the world rejoiced, and she absolutely slays on the runway. FTL Moda capitalized on this in their 2015 AW15 runway show which featured disabled models. It’s about damn time.
Thankfully, some big brands are following suit with making clothing more accessible for all bodies. Target is expanding their advertising to include more plus-sized models and models with disabilities. Tommy Hilfiger’s Tommy Adaptive clothing section offers amazing accessible clothing options advertised on models with varying body types, and their clothing includes features such as easy closures, sensory-friendly fabrics, prosthetic fits, and wheelchair-rider fits.
Body Positive Sources
Need some more #bodypositivity in your life? I, for one, love seeing curvy models kill it on social media. Here are some of my fav Instagram accounts that feature women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities absolutely slaying:
Are you as excited as we are about the trend toward more diversity in the media and the increased featuring of curvy models? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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