Beauty in Bony? (Define "Fat".)

Is this a pivoting point in fashion? Is the reign of bony women coming to an end? For now, anyways. Fashion works in cycles: it's here, then it's gone, but it's most definitely sure to come back at some point or another. (Ex: shoulder pads - Balmain). At one time long ago, a woman was beautiful if she was curvy. She was encouraged to be healthy but also to eat and enjoy herself. Now, the smaller the pants size, the more desired and "diet" is on the lips of thousands of fashion-conscious women. Now, being a girl born into a time where thinness was becoming more important than ever, I have been raised seeing models only like this and I cannot tell you that I find them unattractive. I also won't pretend that there have been times when I've stood in front of a mirror with a fashion magazine open at my feet and compared myself to them. Then again, I'm not going to completely condemn these models because some people seriously just look like that without doing anything. (For example: Like, in eating well, I would give myself a B and, in exercising, a definite F, but, although I'm not "taut" or whatever, I somehow maintain a pants size 1.)However, let us not forget those that alter these images on computers, creating standards for women that do not actually exist.1

With all this in mind, I'm torn. I am a firm believer that it is healthiest for a woman to diet and exercise and so I support thinness but then again, the stress is overwhelming. Can't a woman live a healthy lifestyle without worrying about it constantly? I mean, I know that sounds kind of lazy to some of you, or perhaps not. It's just like, I want to live. I want to eat. I love to eat. But then again, I may be biased because I don't like a lot of junk food so the things I eat probably don't affect me as harshly.2

Also, why do I have to do all these intense workouts to look like these people? It hurts. I don't enjoy myself. I like tennis and dancing and hiking and kayaking and swimming but then again it's hard to completely enjoy these things because there's always that voice in the back of your head, pressuring you: "Push harder. You want to be beautiful, right?"3

And you can tell me that I'm just being lazy or that I'm doing it for the wrong reasons, maybe that I'm being obsessive, that I need to try harder, but I know for a fact that there are so many women that are thinking just like me; sick of all the pressure.4

I want the fashion industry to support more variation in their models. I want them to support health but also different body shapes and varied features in their models. I desire a fashion world that embraces beauty as an indefinite term, something taking on so many shapes and sizes. I can see in many areas of fashion, small steps are being taken, but small pictures of unique-looking actresses clustered around a little piece about confidence and inner beauty while every page after that is stalky, angular models galore, isn't going to cut it.5

Health isn't only evident in your body; it's in your mind. I believe that once our mind is free of the pressure to become what Vogue says is beautiful, we can begin to find beauty in ourselves as ourselves.