Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Jessica S on 08/22/2009

Glamour Magazine’s September Issue Gets it Right

I do not read Glamour magazine. My sister’s friend, however, does. So when flipping through the September issue with them, I was happy to see this:

A non-airbrushed photo of model Lizzie Miller.

Miller is a 20 year old model, and technically at a size 12-14, she is not plus sized. But in the world of modeling, she is definitely not the norm.

Glamour recieved an outcry of support for the normal sized model, and emails thanked the magazine for putting a woman with everyday, normal curves and rolls in the magazine.

And Lizzi is grateful, too. She says:

“When I read them I got teary-eyed!” she says. “I’ve been that girl, flipping through magazines trying to find just one person who looked a little bit like me. And when I didn’t find it I would start to think there’s something wrong with the way that I looked. When J. Lo and Beyonce came out and were making curves sexy, I started to accept myself more. It’s funny, but just seeing them look and feel sexy enabled me to do the same.”

This photo embraces Lizzie’s natural beauty, which is something that, in today’s media, does not happen often, as most photos are airbrushed. And it made me proud of my own body, being almost 5″4 and a size 12-14 myself. It reminded me that all women, no matter what, is beautiful in her own unique way. And, in today’s society especially, that is important. Because it seems to me that we live in a society that only feeds the lack of self-esteem that regular women feel day in and day out. It turns every day into a battle with ourselves over what to wear, what to eat, what to say, what to look like. A battle for self-acceptance, and self-love.

And, I know, at least, I am disgusted by this.

I am sick of living in a society that only feeds my negativity towards myself. I am sick of living in a society fueled by a media that favors sickly thin models over models who represent the “average” woman. I am sick of living in a society that tells me how to be.

This is, at least, a start, if nothing more. And I hope that this photo leads to more women embracing their natural beauty. So, I applaud women like Lizzie Miller, who are proud of the body that they have, because they are beautiful. They are here to remind us that we are all beautiful.

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