Plus size models. A matter of acknowledging that not everyone identifies with ‘regular-size models’, or giving up the fight for a normal weight? Politically correct and commercially interesting, or an unhealthy example?
Plus size models: Ashley Graham
Yesterday, I watched De Wereld Draait Door. The table lady was Antoinnette Scheulderman who started with attention for the plus size model Ashley Graham. Antoinette described the contrast between the hard work that regular models do to stay slim with Ashley giving an interview while eating pizza. A big contrast with the skinny models in France who now have to provide a declaration to employers that they are healthy enough to work.
Ashley Graham is a size 44, is the world’s most successful model, first plus size model on the cover of the American Vogue, cover of the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. 4.1 million followers on Instagram and a judge on America’s Next Top Model. “She has even been included by Time Magazine and Forbes in a list of the most influential people worldwide”, partly due to her commitment to more diversity among models. Ashley Graham is thus a successful model with ‘a bit more kilo’. Thus, Antoinnette praises plus size models. Fantastic, super, hallelujah.
Mathijs called her “Beautiful, stunning” upon seeing the photo on the right. Antoinnette described her as “Nicely chubby and drop-dead gorgeous”. The last thing she should do now is lose weight, as that proved disastrous for the career of previous plus size models. Ashley also noticed this last year when she was “accused of losing weight” [1].
Plus size models: obese size?
Before I continue, I have to confess my bias as a fitness photographer, fitness instructor, and editor of a fitness site. These activities will inevitably play a role in my ideal of beauty. I work weekly with trained fitness models. There’s a reason I’m a fitness photographer and even for non-fitness photo shoots, I often invite fitness models. I can’t deny that this beauty ideal here is only partially compensated by politically correct relativism.
Subjectively, I must confess that from the description “Nicely chubby and drop-dead gorgeous”, the word ‘chubby’ comes closest to how I would describe Ashley’s shape. Based on this photo, I would even more likely apply the term ‘fat’.
Now, you can consider that a matter of taste, but when I saw the photo, I suspected that you could calmly speak of overweight in medical terms. If I believe the online sources, Ashley weighs around 91 kilos and makes an effort to stay at that weight [2,3]. She would want to maintain her weight to “remain true to herself” and probably especially to her fans who would otherwise abandon her
Real ‘fans’ who would rather see their idol’s BMI (29.7) fluctuate between ‘overweight’ and ‘obesity/severe overweight’. No doctor or dietitian would say: “Ms. Graham, it’s really in your best interest to remain obese and not lose weight”. No, we should praise her and the way she embraces her weight.
For me, it’s a different story if Ashley had the same trouble with her weight as so many do. If she would strive for a healthy weight but for some reason couldn’t achieve it and then embraces her figure instead of becoming depressed. I would then appreciate that. However, if she consciously stays on the brink of obesity with her weight to remain ‘true to herself’ then I think we’re going too far in political correctness and commercial interests.
If Ashley is then praised to the skies, I would at least like to see one critical remark about the medical risks of such weight. However, Ashley does not need to provide a health declaration to employers.
What you want vs. what you need
In the old days, you only had public broadcasting on TV. Grey men who decided what would be good to feed the nation. An hour-long dry talk about art? Fine because education is just as important as entertainment, if not more so. They have nothing else to watch so they shove our pedagogically responsible programming down their throats. You might not have had much fun or choice, but you did learn the difference between Monet and Manet (something about mistresses and syphilis).
Then came the commercial channels that were entirely dependent on viewer ratings. Serve up everything the customer wants whether it adds something or not. This resulted in trash like GTST and Oh Oh Cherso. A generation of TV-addicted elderly and alcohol-addicted youth. ‘Too bad, we simply give the people bread and circuses’.
When it comes to an ideal of beauty, you can make the same choice. Do you show a healthy ideal that many cannot achieve? Or do you show what (some) people want to see; an unhealthier ideal of beauty that matches their own image? Difficult, but beneficial or easy, but not motivating? Now that companies see commercial opportunities in plus size models, there’s a good chance we’ll see models with an unhealthy weight presented as examples more often. Then someone will sit down with Mathijs again to tell how fantastically beautiful that is. That this happened through Antoinette does not surprise directly. I can imagine that she identifies more with the figure of an Ashley Graham type than a Victoria’s Secrets angel.
Medium size models
In response to undernourished models, we now praise the overfed models. Maybe we should take the middle path. After all, there’s a lot between the min size models on the catwalk in Paris and the plus size models on the covers. Two to three whole categories on the BMI scale. That should offer enough room, I think.
References
- dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3699646/She-s-s-Size-14-model-Ashley-Graham-labeled-phony-online-critics-accusing-losing-lot-weight-flaunting-slimmer-figure-recent-selfies.html
- healthyceleb.com/ashley-graham-height-weight-body-statistics/40966
- mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/size-16-model-ashley-graham-9376327
