It has been with great enthusiasm that I have watched plus-size models make an entrance into the international modeling industry. It seems perfectly in line with what I see as a massive social shift towards greater self-acceptance, coupled with a yearning for media diversity in the representation of women and beauty. I am not at all surprised that plus-size models are gorgeous in print, take great photographs and can work a runway. I’ve always been big and curvy and I never thought that I wasn’t pretty because of it. But I did feel uncomfortable in my body and self-conscious that I was bigger than other women.

Reimagine how you would like to see women represented in the media. The media has a bottom line and that is to generate as much profit as possible; it will reflect what we demand to consume. See the world you wish to live in. Model: Crystal Renn

Getting past feeling uncomfortable about and in the body requires a special kind of work, and this work is for the most part a process of un-learning. It requires us to un-learn that we are not good enough as we are; to un-learn that the body’s appearance is a measure of our worthiness. We are asked to let go if the idea that there is a point in the imagined future in which we will have changed ourselves to meet an invented standard, allowing us to finally be worthy of living a joyous existence and being loved.

Loved by who? Loved How?

What you really want is to be loved by YOU.

Unconditionally.

When the Love is found within - THEN you are seen, THEN you are better understood and THEN you are beautiful in the way you seek,-the way that matches your true nature. You are beautiful in the way that a flower becomes ever more exquisite the more closely it is examined; in the way that the light moves across the surface of the ocean, colors shifting as the sun moves through the sky. You are a flame, dancing.

Crystal Renn, discovered in her teens and put through the gamut of industry pressures from the time she was 14 years old, has emerged as one of the most successful plus-models in the industry today.