Real Women Are…

  The modeling world is ever expanding, with a wide variety of ethnicities, body shapes, and sizes fighting for a respected spot. Tyra Banks, former Victoria’s Secret Model, talk show host, and creater of America’s Next Top Model, has chosen to re-name plus sized models as ‘fiercely real’, stating “On Top Model, we call it fiercely real. I don’t want to use the term ‘plus-size,’ because, to me, what the hell is that? It just doesn’t have a positive connotation to it. I tend to not use it”.  Though it is evident that Tyra’s intentions are nothing but pure in her attempt to break the mold around what one considers a ‘model’, one must wonder about the ideas it gives.

  By disregarding the term ‘plus size’ in favour of fiercely real because of it’s alleged negative connotation, is Tyra not then insinuating that girls who do not fit in this category are not ‘real’?

  In an attempt to help boost the esteem of girls who fight for un-healthily thin figures, a wave of ‘positive body image’ slogans such as “Real Women Have Curves” and “Only Dogs Like Bones” have circulated the web. This skinny hate, albeit unintentional, is just as dehumanizing and hurtful for those who are naturally born with small figures as elusive fashion magazines are to fuller figured women.

  The key to getting past the never ending spiral of hate is to move past it and realize that EVERYONE is real, regardless of their shape and size.

Accept this, and maybe we can move past all the silly labeling and accept all women as women, models as models, and people as people.