Translator: Romina Meffe
Reviewer: Denise RQ You are bold, you are brilliant,
and you are beautiful. There is no other woman like you. You are capable. Back fat, I see you popping over
my bra today, but that's alright. I'm going to choose to love you. And thick thighs, you are just so sexy,
you can't stop rubbing each other. (Laughter) That's alright. I'm going to keep you. And cellulite, I have
not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take
over my whole bottom half, but you're a part of me. I love you. It's true, honestly. I felt free once I realized
I was never going to fit the narrow mold that society wanted me to fit in. I was never going to be perfect enough for an industry that defines
perfection from the outside in. And that's OK. Rolls, curves, cellulite, all of it. I love every part of me. My name is Ashley Graham, and I'm a model and body activist. Over the last 15 years, I've come to the conclusion
that there is no one perfect body. Because I, like you, possess
a wonderfully unique and diverse physique. Now, the fashion industry
may persist to label me as "plus size", but I like to think of it as 'my size'. In fact, did you know that the plus size fashion industry
actually starts at a US size 8? And it goes up to a US size 16. So basically what I'm saying is
that the majority of this room right now is considered plus size. How does it make you feel to be labeled? I really feel like we need
to start looking beyond the plus size model paradigms to what it actually means
to be a model in 2015. My journey begins in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was 12 years old and scouted in a mall. At 13, I signed with
a major modeling agency and was traveling the world. I was shooting big campaigns, and before I even graduated high school, I had been to multiple
different countries. At 17, I graduated and moved to New York, and while most kids are going through
their self-discovery stage in college, my self discovery stage
was in the midst of catwalks, catalogs, and casting calls. I was working
as a full time plus size model. Back in Nebraska, I was
known as the "Fat Model". The girl who is pretty for a big girl. I always hated answering that question:
"What do you do for a living?" I would see that person's eyebrow
raise as I would reply: "I'm a model!" I'd have to quickly qualify with:
"Well, I'm a plus size model." In fact, here is my very first
editorial for YM Magazine. And, you are reading it correctly,
"cantaloupes-large breasts". I was helping women across America
at the age of 15 dress their big boobs. But you know what the first thing that someone in middle school
pointed out to me besides-- well, besides the obvious? Was that fold above my knee. That fat fold above my knee. As a young model, my confidence was tugged at
and pulled in all different directions. I struggled to achieve true confidence. I would go home and look
in front of the mirror and only hate what I saw. And to fill the void on the inside, I began to cave to all the vices
being thrown my way. Between the parties, the men, the alcohol, I was looking for self love,
for affirmation from somebody, when in reality, I didn't love who I was, and I couldn't seem to get a handle
on regulating my own weight. I began to face my insecurities head on. And instead, I was filling
my life with temporary fixes. I, like so many young women,
have struggled to love who I am. And Dove's global report
on attitudes towards beauty actually did a survey with thousands
of women in ten different countries. And you know what
the most striking result was? That only 2% of women
find themselves beautiful. 2%! We need to work together to redefine
the global vision of beauty. And it starts with becoming
your own role model. As a curvy woman it was the assumption that I should look up to
Marilyn Monroe or Jennifer Lopez mainly because they were two of the most
notable curvy women in the public eye that were being praised for their curves. But these weren't my role models. In reality, the woman I looked
up to the most was my mother. She told me I was beautiful, and she never devalued herself. So why would I? She told me and taught me that true beauty comes from within and that validation and self worth
must also come from within. In my lowest moments of insecurity this is when I realized that I had to reclaim my body
and its image as my own. Plus-size fashion is
an 18-billion-dollar industry. And now IMG, the world's
number one modeling agency, has signed me and other models
that are not defined by their size. My body, like my confidence,
has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others
who didn't necessarily understand it. I had to learn to reclaim
my body as my own. And in reclaiming my body as my own, I understood as a woman
that I had a greater purpose. I had a greater purpose
to redefine beauty. The feminine beauty. Curvy models are becoming
more and more vocal about the isolating nature
of the term plus size. We are calling ourselves
what we want to be called: women with shapes that are our own. I believe beauty is beyond size. With so much emphasis on
the body and external, it's no wonder that we all
suffer so much internally. But you know, people
in the fashion industry actually told me that I would never be in magazines
let alone the covers of them. Well, I guess we've proven them wrong. Five covers in a little over a year. And I was one of the very first
curvy models to be featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. (Applause) Thank you. Never let anybody tell you that you can't. I have achieved, and I'm still achieving
what was seemingly impossible. My goal is to give a voice to young women. To give a voice
to young women who struggle to find someone they can look up to. For girls who struggle to look
inside the mirror and say, I love you. For women who feel uncomfortable
expressing their confidence they've locked away inside themselves. For women who have relinquished
their rights to someone else. It is critical that both men and women
create a body positive environment. Uplift the important women in your lives. Create a safe space for them
to express their body and their beauty for who they are
not because of who they're not. Be you. Be real. Be authentic. Be your favorite kind of woman. Don't let anybody else take that job. And remember this is
the generation of body diversity. The current is changing. I now invite all of you to #TEDxBV15 with your own self-affirming words. There may not be a full-length mirror
in front of each of you today, but I want to challenge you to think about what you would want
to say to yourself in the mirror with your own self-affirming words. Thank you. (Applause)
Me, either. I talk way too much about gender, race, and class. I make people uncomfortable with my ideas, and I try to get them to talk through that discomfort. But you know what? I AM going to fit into a pair of Banana Republic jeans. That mold is just fine for me.
What game is she playing by declaring that women at size 8 are plus sized? By telling her audience that for this reason, the majority of the room is considered plus-sized when they're not?
Is she trying to make more women feel "fat" or feel marginalized so that they'll be more inclined to join her "body positive" movement? I'm just asking because it seems pretty loaded when she asks an audience that presumably includes size 8 women, "How does that make you feel to be labeled (plus sized)?" knowing fully well that they aren't. She, a much larger woman, just called them that, but nobody else does. Is she actually trying to make women feel bad about their bodies, just like she's preaching against?! Is it okay to do that in her mind because they're thinner than her? She's telling people who have no problem buying shopping for clothes in normal departments that they are viewed the same as women who can't because of their obesity. That's not good for their self-esteem. It's not a healthy message and it is not true.
It's pathetic that she can quote the fact that only 2% of women think they're beautiful, regardless of their weight, then prey on thinner women's body insecurities in the name of "body positivity." Clearly, "body positivity" is just a euphemism for making fat girls feel better about themselves. Because first, we'll make some thinner women feel worse by convincing them they're fat too.
What an asshole.
Just FYI: Plus-sized stores, including the giant industry leader Lane Bryant, typically start at a size 14 and go through at least a 24. A size 8 is easy to find in any normal retail store.
"I love my rolls" as you can see the line of her spanx on her thighs. I love me some spanx, but you can't say how much you love your rolls and cellulite when you're obviously trying to hide it.
Ahhh Tedx, the Ted ripoff that is always full of insanity.