Beautiful Madison Women
In October this year Madison Magazine featured a plus size model for their ‘Body’ issue. Editor Paula Joye blogged that Madison were committed to regularly showing women of varying shapes and sizes and that they would never publish diets. Both great things. For their January issue Madison have commissioned some famous Aussie women to pose nude. It seems that Glamours own plus sized model shoot and the outpouring of body image love for Lizzi Miller has been quite an inspiration.
I think the photo’s are beautiful. I’m sure they have probably had some photoshopping wands waved over them, but it’s still lovely to see women of different shapes and sizes in a prominent magazine spread. I particularly love the bravado of Bianca Dye who states “The whole point of this was to show that women in the media, with a public profile, have all kinds of different figures. It’s OK to look like this. I’m still a good person; I make people laugh on the radio and who cares?”
Bianca: “What I hate…is when people cast judgment over other people’s bodies when they have no idea what is going on behind the scenes”
I also wish to express admiration for Fiona Falkiner who has certainly had her fair share of public body image battles. After losing a dramatic amount of weight as a contestant on The Biggest Loser and then putting nearly all that weight back on again, it seems now Fiona has finally found a weight and shape that feels right for her and is carving out a successful career as a plus sized model. She certainly is not as thin as she was when she finished the show and I think she looks amazing.
Fiona: “I have accepted and embraced the body I have – curves and all.”
Tiffani: “I was at a red carpet event when a radio host stopped me. ‘That dress looks really great on you. So do those stretch marks,’ she said referring to my boobs. I replied with a polite ‘Thankyou, I hear every woman has them,’ then walked off.”
Kate: “Now in my mid 30′s I have alot of respect for my body. For years I gave it a really hard time – pain, humiliation, illness – so I have to give it enormous credit for coming out of the experience alive.”
While I do like the magazine spread and what it’s trying to achieve, I must admit to loathing the way the Daily Telegraph has reported on it. Why is it necessary to proclaim that this story means “the size zero backlash has arrived.” How gross and banal. Such reporting only serves to say that if we embrace people other than a size zero, this then means that body shape is not ok. That’s not what this is about at all. Many people are naturally thin, just as many people are not. This should be about encouraging people to have an appreciation for their own particular size and beauty and recognise that it is possible for everyone to feel great about themselves not matter what dress, jean or bra size they may wear. It should not involve beating up on any particular ‘size’ and therefore person.
The article also mentions this ridiculous Marie Claire competition that asked readers to ‘vote’ on their favourite body type from a range of women ranging from thin to what would be considered a plus model size. Once again, this serves no purpose except to get women to compare body types (a known killer of positive body image development) and ‘pick’ what is best. Don’t you get it media? The best body shape for anyone is the one they feel happy with and can only be chosen by them, not you. No-one else gets to judge or vote on what that body shape is and we don’t need you to tell us people supposedly ‘prefer’ women to not be too thin. That’s not newsworthy at all so why the nasty competition?
The only merit I can see is if you are going to use it to somehow influence fashion designers and their choice of sample sizes, but I think both you and I know that is not the case. What other positive purpose it could possibly serve I fail to see, so why not just leave the body comparison and vote casting behind and instead just concentrate on putting beautifully diverse shaped women on your pages on a regular basis. That may actually do some real good.
All images from the January edition of Madison Magazine.
Whilst I applaud women (and men) being happy in their own skin and not finding it necessary to diet themselves away to nothing, I really dislike them then parading around naked to prove their point. A little bit of modesty please!
I am disappointed that I have not been able to read this article properly (I always enjoy Julie's blog), the attached images are not what I want my children seeing, and being a Mum by childless computer hours can be somewhat limited.
It is a lovely step in the right direction but dare I ask, why does the size of these women position right beside their name and career? It makes it seem as though their size is so important as their age and career. I did think the point was that size was not important, and yet here they emphasise and revere it.
Of course I understand that the point is the size is not the same among women, but I thought a society which we were aiming for was one in which size wasn't even thought of or cared about, rather than still obssessing about size albeit a larger one. Other than that point of annoyance, it is a lovely article. And these women are beautiful and comfortable in their own skins.
I've always been a fan of plus-size models! There's a great site with many images of plus-size models here:
http://www.judgmentofparis.com/
They're all gorgeous.
The site's forum also has thought-provoking discussions about body image and the media.
Most women are able to joyfully overlook stretch marks when they contemplate the miracle of life they bring into the world. For probably the most the small annoyance even the worst stretch marks bring are well worth the joys of bringing a newborn baby into the world. Do what you’ll be able to in the course of pregnancy to maintain an appropriate weight and attempt not to worry too significantly about stretch marks. Numerous ladies wear them with pride, a ‘war wound’ or “badge of honor” related to their pregnancy.
That’s a great way of thinking about stretchmarks Ninfa. They’re not that bad!