You wanna be on top! *cue America’s Next Top Model title sequence*
Roll in all the images of the beautiful women, the drama, Tyra Banks, all of it. I loved this show growing up, at one point I think I even thought I could be a Model because of it. I learned how to walk from Ms. Jay and Tyra taught me how to smize. I was ready, there was only one thing stopping me- my body looked nothing like the women on the show. I was thicker and curvier, so therefore I would never be in the running to be America’s next top model. I was okay with this, I didn’t really want to be a model, I actually wanted to be a lawyer. So the fact that people weren’t shaped like me was okay, I was used to it. My body wasn’t..isn’t societies normal. So, at the time it didn’t bother me that women like me weren’t represented.
Fast forward a little bit and Toccara Williams made her debut. A black plus sized model strut her way on to the show and, though she didn’t win, she made an impact. She represented another variation of beautiful and millions of people like me were watching and rooting for her to show the world that you can be your own kind of beautiful. At that moment, while I didn’t start rethinking my model career, I did feel uplifted. Since Tocarra there have been several other plus sized models who have taken the world by storm. Ashley Graham and Denise Bidot are currently showing everyone that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.
Some might think that having this representation isn’t important, however not everyone sees themselves in the way you might hope. There are people struggling everyday with the way they look to meet society’s impossible standard of beauty. Right now there is a girl somewhere who resembles the younger version of myself who is watching, probably the same exact show. But this time these women and other women like them are making it easier to realize that beauty can have stretch marks, stomach rolls, and cellulite. It can be whatever you want it to be.