Why Aren’t Black Women The Face Of, Or At Least Part Of, The New Plus-Size Acceptance In Modeling?

Written by Charing Ball

I try to not indulge in too many conspiracy theories, but if I had to my channel my inner Mulder and Scully, I would swear that the modeling industry was trying to whitewash the image of plus-size beauty.

Take for instance, Sports Illustrated magazine, which is about to editorialize one of its first plus-size models within the pages of its annual swimsuit edition (through an ad for Swimsuits For All).  

According to ET.com:

Plus-sized model, Ashley Graham, is making history by posing in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.

Graham stars in the first ever ad to feature a plus-size model in the pages of the highly anticipated issue. This means that along with the usual models —Benhati Prinsloo, Chrissy Teigen, Heidi Klum, Adirana Lima, to name a few — a curvier woman totally rocking a string bikini will be in the same pages.

You can watch a trailer for the magazine issue on ET’s website, which gives better insight into what SI means by “plus-size.” And as you might have suspected, it’s not really that plus. Instead, a more appropriate term would be “curvy,” considering that Graham is proportionately shaped, like a Coke bottle, with little belly fat. I’ve written before about how unrealistic, deceptive and problematic that image of “plus-size” can be, just like the current standard of beauty (considering only eight percent of women actually embody the Coke-bottle figure).

With that being said, this is pretty groundbreaking stuff for Sports Illustrated and the modeling industry in general. Not only is it an acknowledgement that the beauty standard can come in various sizes, but this editorial also acknowledges the slight change to those beauty standards. We’re going from a more athletic and thin, yet equally proportioned woman, to a woman with a more curvaceous and meaty, yet proportioned, frame. What’s interesting to note here is that Sport Illustrated is not the only part of the industry looking to expand a bit on its beauty standards.

According to Business Insider:

 Plus-size model Tess Holliday has made history as the first woman of her size and height to sign a contract with a major modeling agency.

Holliday, whose real name is Tess Munster, just signed a deal with MiLK Model Management. She is 5 feet 5 inches tall, and a size 22.

Most plus-size models are typically taller and between sizes 8 and 16, by comparison.”

Again, pretty groundbreaking stuff here. Not only is she is a plus-size model with all the belly rolls and jiggly-parts that come with that, but her “plus” actually changes the industry standard and is more aligned with how a good portion of American women are shaped, and even sized. Still, there is something within this shift in beauty standards that makes it even less revolutionary. And I’m talking about the exclusion of Black women.

Yeah, I know: Why does everything have to be a race issue?

The media (mainstream, independent, Black, health and otherwise) has been fixated on Black women’s supposed weight issues, and our weight has inspired years of public debate. A simple query on Google for “Black Women and Obesity” will net you a massive amount of articles and commentary on the topic alone. My favorite is this New York Times article, which gets right down to the point and asks, “Why Are Black Women Fat?”

As part of these public conversations, we have learned that 57.9 percent of Black women, ages 20 and over, are classified as obese, which is significantly higher than our white women counterparts. And even more devastating, this obesity level makes us susceptible to a number of life-ending diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Good information, however, the tone of these public conversations slowly but surely grew more hostile. And if Black women were not being shamed for being fat in these public discussions, people would concern troll us with “helpful advice” on how not to be fat anymore. Like when Boris Kodjoe told Black women in particular to stop making #FatExcuses, and then his skinny wife turned around and tried to sell us headscarves for the gym…

Just about everybody, including other Black women, used those statistics and statements to prey upon the insecurity of heavy-set Black women. We were made to feel like bad mothers and role models for producing a generation of children with eating disorders. And we were told that without proper diet and exercise, many of us would never be considered attractive or find men to marry us.

The gaze, at times, was particularly harsh. But as this New York Magazine article notes:

As the authors of a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior explain, “[o]verweight and obese African American women are almost twice as likely as overweight and obese white women to respond that they are ‘about the right weight’ or ‘underweight.’

That’s right: Even as society routinely channels its inner Mister to remind Black women of this: “Look at you: You’re black, you’re poor, you’re ugly, you’re a woman. You’re nothing at all.” We were all like, I’m poor, black, I may even be ugly, but Dear God, I’m here!”

 And since I’m here, I’m going to squeeze my big behind into this leopard print onesie and feel good about myself…

When it comes to carrying our weight, Black women have confidence like no other. And every one pretty much knows it. However, I have yet to see that enduring Sista Big Bone-spirit reflected anywhere in the industry’s recent embrace of plus-size beauty. Instead, we see white women leading the curvy-girl revolution and basically becoming the poster children for positive body image.

It may seem like a trivial issue, but I feel like it is worth noting that once again, white folks get the glory of embodying attributes associated exclusively with blackness, but never have to deal with the burden. It should be noted that this small yet noticeable shift in beauty standards likely has a direct connection to the rise and spread of hip-hop culture, which embraces a more Rubenesque shape found mostly in Black women. It should also be noted that Kim Kardashian might not have been able to #BreakTheInternet had it not been for hip-hop promoting those Black bodies for public consumption.

 

So if Black women can be the negative face of obesity, why can’t we also get the glory within this new acceptance?

  

Images are Trendycurvy.com

All opinion and suggestions are Charing Ball's