America’s unrealistic weight standard

According to inch-aweigh.com, the average American model is 5’11’’ and weighs 117 pounds. The average American woman is 5’4’’ and weighs 140 pounds. Is something wrong with this picture?

For years, young girls and women have been bombarded with images of rail-thin models who look nothing like them. Instead, fashion magazine readers are offered images of models that often look like they are a size negative zero instead of the typical size eight. Sadly, not only do these models appear as if they are starving for more than a diet that consists mostly of cigarettes, mentos and soda water, they also appear to be suffering from serious, and in most cases, life-threatening eating disorders.

Many impressionable young girls and women also fall victim to some of the same eating disorders while attempting to achieve a beauty and weight standard that is impossible to reach. However, this weight-standard may be changing as more curvy women enter the fashion scene.

The beauty curve

Lizzi Miller, a 20-year-old plus-size model sparked great interest and controversy as she bared it all in this month’s issue of Glamour Magazine. Posing for an article piece that Glamour did on women and body image, Lizzi smiled for the camera in a sexy, playful yet conservative manner. And without a hint of airbrushing, Lizzi still exuded natural beauty, innocent grace, and a beaming smile while revealing her tummy and even some of her stretch-marks (a risk no fashion magazine editor or photographer would ever consider).

Worth the risk

But the risk was worth it, as many female readers and even men with an appreciation for the true female figure were ecstatic to see a real woman featured in a well-known magazine. Women readers were especially pleased to see a model gracing the pages of a notorious magazine whose body resembles their own.

Thanks to Lizzi, real women now have a new role-model and advocate in their corner. And if more magazines switch from negative-size models to plus-size models, the norm of beauty and weight may also slowly but surely begin to change; a change that would be a plus for all women.