Regina George and Fat Girls

Globally, the statistic of women that would call themselves beautiful is 4 percent. 

-Jes Baker, Things No ONe Will Tell Fat Girls

I have been a photographer for a long time, and almost exclusively photographing women for the last five or so of those years - and gosh do I get it. We are afraid that calling ourselves beautiful is vain, or even inaccurate. 

As a huge fan of the movie Mean Girls, I recall a part of the flick where main character Cady is seen in front of a mirror with her new friends Regina, Karen, and Gretchen, and all of the girls methodically pick themselves apart in the mirror. “My hips are huge” “I hate my calves” “I’ve got man shoulders” “My hairline is so weird” “My pores are huge” “My nailbeds suck.” Cady thinks to herself “I used to think there was just fat and skinny. Apparently there’s a lot of things that can be wrong on your body.” Then her new friends turn to her, expecting Cady to criticize something about herself too. These little digs go from funny to downright MEAN - to and we do it to ourselves every day too.

Earlier today, I was browsing a Facebook group where a woman was anonymously lamenting why her husband doesn’t seem to be attracted to her anymore. She wrote that she has gained over 100 pounds since meeting him and said that she is fat. The very first comment said “You’re not fat, you’re beautiful!” And I want to dissect that statement a little.

First - beautiful and fat are not mutually exclusive. YOU CAN BE BOTH - and I am 100% confident this anonymous poster totally is! 

Second - fat is not a dirty word. We ALL have fat. Some more, some less, and in different places on our body. How beautiful is THAT?! Like snowflakes - every one of us is different, but every one beautiful!

And third - we have created a society that idealizes a certain body type, and in doing so we have convinced the other 96% of the population that our body type is unacceptable.

I choose to do this important work every day - to show women their beauty. To show you that your body is worth celebrating and you don’t need to - nor should you - be critical nor metaphorically pick it apart. Be kind to yourself. You are worth doing the photoshoot.