News

by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

When I first heard V Magazine was producing an issue featuring plus sized models, I was non-plussed (lame pun intended).  For my own sanity, I tend to avoid fashion magazines.  And for whatever reason, I thought that plus sized models were sometimes in fashion magazines anyway.  At the very least, they’re in the plus sized section of department store web sites and attached to the Lane Bryant coupons that I receive with some regularity.  Okay, if I’m to be honest, I haven’t thought much about plus sized models since my beloved Mode Magazine died in 2001.

That is not to say that I’m not glad that plus sized models exist.  I am so glad that they exist.  I’m so glad that gorgeous plus sized models like Crystal Renn are out there, being gorgeous and writing about healing from eating disorders.  The more that plus size models work their way into mainstream media, and the more that they are seen as beautiful, the more hope I have that more young women will grow up loving their curvaceousness and not spending money on diet programs and diet pills.

But can I just say, because I really have to say it, that I can’t help but wish for a few things?  I can’t help but wish that size 10/12 models weren’t considered “plus size” (because, honestly, they can fit into lots of clothes that 14+ plus sized women can’t wear).  I also can’t help but wish that having a few plus sized models in a regular old fashion magazine wasn’t cause for a media blitz.  Finally, I can’t help but wish that we weren’t being served up the same hourglass, youthful (though slightly larger) ideal all over again.

Despite my doubts, I do think that the V Magazine spread is a major step in the right direction.  But to me, the most remarkable part of it is how it all happened.

I believe that this V Magazine issue happened because of you.

I know some of you will say that this is just a calculated attempt by marketers to capitalize on the realization that fat women really do buy stuff.  Maybe they’ve also bought in to the “obesity epidemic” b.s., and they’re thinking that their market of thin women is morphing into a mass of plus sized women, and so, out of self interest, they’re adding photos of relatively thin fat women to their magazines.

That all may be true, but to me, that’s only part of the story.

The real story is that fat women and men are showing up in the world in a new way.  More and more, I see people coming to fat acceptance, finding their voice, and finding that weight loss isn’t a prerequisite to beauty.

One of my favorite fat-o-sphere spots is livejournal’s Fatshionista, where women take pictures of their OOTD’s (outfits of the day) and share where they found their fatshion treasure.  I just love seeing women of a variety of plus size shapes and sizes showing off their outfits and themselves.  I love the sense of community they create, the inventive ways that they have find to showcase who they are, and the joy they display in the beauty of who they are right now.

Most of the women in the OOTD’s, like most women in general, will never meet the ideal required of them to appear as a model, plus or not, in a high end fashion magazine.  But, to me, the great thing about these OOTD’s is that they make fashion magazines kind of irrelevant.  The women in the OOTD posts are reveling in their beauty just as it is.

V magazine was just trying to catch up with all of you.

And so, for this week’s tip, I desire for you to revel in your beauty just as it is.  Wear something you’ve been saving for a special occasion.  Do your makeup in a new way.  Add a little glitter to your hair.  Wink at yourself in the mirror.  Do whatever turns you on to the beauty that is you.  Let me know how it goes in the comments.

Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness, a program designed for plus-sized women who are fed up with dieting and want support to stop obsessing about food and weight. To learn more about Golda and her work, click here.