I hate the term “plus size”, if you look it up it means someone that is overweight. What I dislike even more is that healthy beautiful women that model are referred to as plus sized because they are bigger than “straight size”(size 0-4). These women are in no way fat. Models should be models. When people ask me about modeling I like to refer to it as being curvy. I believe you should be healthy no matter what your natural size is. Which brings up another story I was thinking of. Recently there was a controversial editorial showing curvy model Katya Zharkova posing nude with another woman who appears to be a size 0/2. (it doesn’t say her exact size) It has a caption in the picture that says “most runway models meet the Body Mass index physical criteria for anorexia.” I know that Plus Model Mag was trying to make something positive of this and change the way we view beauty,(which I’m very excited about!) but this can be damaging to many women and girls and I will tell you why. Body Mass index is not an accurate way to tell if someone has an eating disorder, as BMI is off on most body types, it is unrealistic. (I know a body builder who took a BMI test and it said he was obese! crazy!) I was a straight size model for 4 years and I can tell you from experience that I only knew a handful of girls that had an eating disorder/had crazy diets and over exercised to keep their size. Most all of the models you see on runways and editorials are naturally skinny, I’ve personally seen girls eat whatever they want and not gain a pound. That is how their body is. The discrimination can go both ways, I know models who have experienced this. I was to big to be a straight size and now that I am back to my normal weight I am often told that I am not big enough! We need to make a change to include women of all sizes.
Some of my favorite models 
In order from top to bottom: Lara Stone, Robyn Lawley, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and Tara Lynn
Hi Anna! My sister Becky has a body type that is exactly opposite of mine. All my life, I thought I was overweight (even at 120 lbs, and I’m 5’6) because she was only two inches shorter than me and weighed about 90 lbs for most of her life. I was a size 7, and she was a 0. Now, with a bit more perspective, I look back at myself from that size and realize that I was actually too small for my body type. I have wide shoulder bones and hips, and a very large bust. I remember how ashamed I was when I gained 20 lbs my sophomore year in college and got up to the 140-145 lbs range, but now I look at those pictures and realize that that’s exactly where my body is healthiest. I was in no way fat – I just didn’t look like a skeleton anymore. Whereas my sister, once she grew up the rest of the way, has a body that is most comfortable around 105-110 lbs. She has plenty of flesh on her at that weight, despite technically being at an underweight BMI. She fits comfortably in a size 0/2 depending on brand. And she gets a lot of flack for it. I’ve seen her go into an Indian food buffet and pack away three huge plates of food, easily 5x as much as I can eat, and she has to work to not lose weight. She says people say the nastiest things to her, like, “So THAT’S what a size 0 looks like.” The discrimation DOES go both ways. I wish we could celebrate all styles and sizes of body. I wish we could have models that were size 8, 10, 12, etc and not have it be called “plus size.” I mean, I’m only aiming to get to a size 10! And at that size, I will be thin, not at all “plus.” There are many women who are gorgeous at larger sizes, who look better at those sizes, because that’s the way they are built. I’m not advocating obesity by any means, but if we could all accept we aren’t built exactly the same way, maybe we wouldn’t be so food neurotic, and perhaps some of the food disorders (compulsive overeating, anorexia, bulemia, stress eating, etc) could be tempered or mostly eliminated.
Um…rant over? haha, sorry for hijacking your comments…
Amanda,
Thank you for your comment! I totally agree, I think we should be celebrating all body types and aim to be healthy. I remember my sister Cari feeling sad because she was teased about how skinny and small she was, not okay! I also agree with you that if we can learn to accept our bodies and that they are different from everyone else that it would help so much. It has to start first with ourselves, then hopefully into the media that we intake everyday(tv, magazines, ect) Its going to take a lot of work but I think eventually it could happen
Thank you! Rolling up the sleeves is a great technique! Curves are beautiful!
I appreciate that hot women are being photographed more often instead of the skeletons. I do disagree about health issues because there are a lot of misinformed people when it comes to eating. I know we can go without food and eat a lot less but even if we do there are essentials that can not only be found in salad and diet coke. Peave out love the curves.