November 2009 issue of Glamour magazine featured seven successful plus size models: From far left: Crystal Renn, Amy Lemons, Ashley Graham, Kate Dillon, Anansa Sims and Jennie Runk. Bottom Center: Lizzie Miller.

If so, I don’t blame you! It is not common to see a realistic depiction of a woman’s body in the media these days.  In fact, on average, we are exposed to women with bodies that only 5% of the female population are genetically capable of achieving. Five percent! No wonder the sight of something realistic shocks us and makes us uncomfortable (yes I’m talking to you ABC and FOX).   This was proven a couple weeks ago when executives at both networks deemed a Layne Bryant commercial too racy for prime time because the model exposed too much cleavage…

I honestly think they were just too uncomfortable seeing a real women with curves in lingerie, an image that is not common in visual media.  Regardless, I’m sorry ABC and FOX, but you cannot use the cleavage excuse when you air Victoria’s Secret Ads and models promoting “naked bras”… just admit it, you found the sight of a real women in her lingerie taboo and offensive!

In their defense though, I think that real women just look more “naked” in their lingerie than the prepubescent 15 year old boy bodies with boobs in the VS advertisements.  When are images of real women going to seem normal and beautiful to general society??

Sadly, I think that the epidemic of unrealistic body images and disordered eating behaviors in young women is just going to continue to escalate…Why, you ask? Because we just aren’t used to seeing females portrayed realistically!  No wonder “to be an American Women and feel good about your body requires a powerful inner strength and the will to resist an unrealistic skinny ideal” (Discovery News, April 2010).

The media’s perception of “normal” just keeps getting thinner, but don’t buy into it ladies! The models you see in magazines and in Victoria’s Secret catalogs are NOT normal. I repeat, NOT normal.  They are the top 1% of skinny alien beauties in an industry that is shrinking BMI standards in order to attain a more artistic focus  on the designer clothing they are trying to sell…and you are NOT expected to look like them!

In celebration of realistic body images, here are some of my favorite curvy women!

Scarlett Johanson

Nigella Lawson

Marilyn Monroe

Crystal Renn

I’m sorry but you cannot tell me these ladies aren’t sexy and beautiful!

xo

Betsy

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