body love

Sports Illustrated is one of my favorite magazines in the world.  More and more sports magazines are continually highlight super strong body types (that are not considered “athletic”) let us not forget the ESPN Mag Body Issue including the incredible feature in Amanda Bingson that I fell in love with last summer.

This time Sports Illustrated took it a step further. One of the most coveted issues of the year is the swimsuit issue. (side note: as a teenager I had a subscription to SI and honestly this was my least favorite issue–but I get it, the demographic is largely male so I had to deal)

The swimsuit issue is usually graced by a very stunning, size zero model in a very uh, revealing swimsuit with sand and water everywhere creating a super sexy look.

This year’s swimsuit issue is drastically different when it comes to body figure but is not at all different when it comes to the sexy factor. It features body positive model Ashley Graham in all of her size 16 glory front and center of the iconic magazine. Graham, who has been modeling for years with top agencies such a Ford even created own lingerie line for curvy women. Last year she made headlines for simply being in an ad in the magazine. Sports Illustrated must have saw the potential because they brought her back to take the cover.

Graham gracing the cover of the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated is a big deal. For me personally who never even considered that a woman who wasn’t rail thin could grace the cover of such a prestigious magazine. This is another step in the right direction to make all bodies be recognized as normal and beautiful! Thank you Sports Illustrated for not only being a fantastic, thought provoking magazine that continues to break barriers for women of all sizes.

[Tweet “Model @TheAshleyGraham Stuns on the cover of  @SInow’s Swimsuit Issue”]

Did you see the cover of the Swimsuit Issue? What did you think?

The Women Of The Dove Beauty Campaign

I was listening to a conversation with two women who were discussing a plus sized actress. They were so excited about the fact that this actress would be getting a role in a movie because there was finally a person that looked like them in the movies.

I was in total agreement until one of the ladies mentioned that she was so happy that they casted a “real” woman for the role. The way she used the word real rubbed me the wrong way but I didn’t really think about it any further.

I realized later on that the reason why her statement bothered me so much because the statement implied that a person thinner than her is somehow fake. Or even worse, unattractive.

Let’s just be clear here folks every single woman is real. We all have flesh, blood and reproductive organs. We all have to fight the good fight of doing a job twice as hard as a man and somehow yet receiving half as much credit. Calling someone who has more weight on their body real only serves as a divider. That is the last thing we need with the likes of Trump and other women bashers already doing a great job trying to divide us.

Let me be clear, we absolutely need diversity on the big and small screens when it comes to body image. We have little girls that need to see amazing role models and women that look like them doing incredible things. This is a fact. The best thing that we can do is accept everyone and not shun them or disparage them because they don’t look like you.

We need to change our language, once we change our language we change the language of the media. We begin to say no to the stereotypes. In the last 20 years we have made great strides in starting to see more diverse images in media. Barbie is now curvy with kinky hair. We have an African American director Barbie. This is HUGE and very much needed. I was never a Barbie girl but I guarantee you if I had these sort of choices available I’d be a complete fan.

With all these revolutionary things happening it’s imperative that we become conscious of our language. We should be having supportive conversations that bring us closer and doesn’t isolate a group by their weight, color and especially their gender.

[Tweet “Every Body is “REAL” Curvy or Not #bodylove #bodypositive”]

What are your thoughts on the issue? Is calling a woman real because she is curvy wrong or right?

Why I Won’t Apologize For My Body Image