Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Baring it All in Glamour - "Plus-Size" Style

By now you've probably seen or heard of the woman on page 194.

If not let me introduce you.

Meet Lizzi Miller. She's a 20-year-old model who recently graced the glossy pages of Glamour magazine in nothing but a thong – all 180 pounds of her.

I wrote a post about this picture on Care2 that has stirred quite a bit of buzz in the comments section - some points of which I'd like to address here.

First of all, I do not believe that Lizzi is physically plus-sized, but by modeling industry standards she is considered a "plus-size" model. Ridiculous, I know. Maybe we would make more progress in body acceptance if the runways stopped referring to "average" women (like Lizzi) as "plus-size" and started putting them on the runways! For now though I guess a 3-by-3 inch photo hidden in the middle of a magazine is progress (baby steps, very little baby steps).

Secondly, as a size 12-14 Lizzi does represent the "average" American woman. I hate the word "average" but statistically this is true.

Thirdly, at 5 foot 11 and 180 pounds, Lizzi's BMI is slightly (and I mean slighty) overweight. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Lizzi's BMI is 25.1 putting her in the overweight category. For her weight and height a BMI of 18.5-24.9 would be considered normal. So tecnically Lizzi is overweight, but seriously she's .2 away.

Lastly, I don't think Lizzi looks overweight or plus-sized or fat. I think she looks beautiful and confident. I wish I had a picture of myself like this and am glad I came across this one because Lizzi has given this lady a newfound love for her belly pooch.

Make sure you check out my article on Care2!

1 comments:

Anonymous,  September 6, 2009 at 1:26 PM  

I've always been a fan of plus-size models! There's a great site with many images of plus-size models here:

http://www.judgmentofparis.com/

They're all gorgeous. The site's forum also features many thought-provoking discussions on body image.