Body image is an extremely important topic to me. I have a daughter whom I want to raise to be body conscious in a positive way. Unfortunately society makes it hard to teach your daughters about body image. Have you heard about the plus sized model in the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition?! Robyn Lawley, a 25 year old Australian native, is the first plus sized model to ever be featured in SI’s famous Swimsuit magazine in a bikini.
Am I the only person not celebrating their version of a plus sized model?
Apparently society is celebrating a magazine who is known for featuring half naked women clad in skimpy swimsuits for including a “bigger” woman. Hooray for featuring a woman who is still not even considered AVERAGE compared to the rest of us!
Height: 6’0″
Waist: 32″
Bust: 39.5″
Hips: 44″
Weight: Unknown – some sources say 180
Most articles are stating that she wears a size 12. Funny thing is that the measurements for the average American woman are as follows and she wears a size 14:
Height: 63.8″ or 5’3″
Weight: 166.2lbs
Waist circumference: 37.5″
After doing some research, I’ve found that the average American woman is a size 14. However, a size 14 looks far from the same when its on a 5’3 woman standing next to a 5’11 woman.
What if one woman is pear shaped and the other has an hourglass figure? What if the taller woman carries her weight in her thighs while the other woman carries her weight in her midsection. I remember being stumped as to how I could weigh the same as my roommate, but not fit in her pants. Sometimes we forget that we weren’t all cut from the same cloth…
I think it’s ridiculous she’s being considered a plus sized model. If you strip away the words ‘plus size,’ didn’t publish her measurements, and showed her to most people, they would say, “Wow, she is a bit bigger than those other models.” Some people might even call her “fat” compared to what society deems as beautiful. Or maybe they’d say she’s of normal size and the models look too skinny or malnourished…
I worry that young girls who see Robyn in Sports Illustrated will feel the need to compare themselves to her if they think she is more “real” than the others. If she is plus size, and they are bigger than her, how will this effect their self esteem? If anything, I fear calling her plus size will only make anyone who has body image issues want to hide themselves under big clothing OR eat less. Body dysmorphia is something I dealt with in the past and seeing the media praise SI for featuring a tall, stunning, healthy looking woman makes me angry. How about bashing Sports Illustrated for always featuring girls who are unrealistic, with physiques that are unattainable for most American women?
It always come back to my daughter. To say that I worry about her growing up in a world filled with so much judgement, criticism, hatred, jealousy, etc. would be an understatement. I often find myself lying awake at night, trying to think of ways to shield her from everything harsh in our world. Sadly, I can’t protect her from it all – I can only educate her on how to appreciate her body and to love herself inside and out.
Having experienced a poor body image my 63 years on this earth I love when young woman realize how little our size should matters. Keep putting that message out there your daughters will benefit so from it. Woman are beautiful no matter height, weight or hair color. Stress beauty is in the person and how they move through life.
Powerful message. Great post!
that girl is NOT plus sized….it is absolutely ridiculous that they label her as such. the normal girls are “minus sized” maybe and she is normal.
I love this and you are completely right! She is not plus sized, she is completely proportional to her height!