In the fashion industry, women are divided into two categories. 1) unimaginably skinny (read: good) 2) plus size (read: fat. Most are just over a size 12, or two sizes smaller than the UK's average woman.) Anything else is regarded as non existent, and both categories are almost always white.
More distastefully, head to any porn site, and (besides all manners of poorly directed and unbelievable amorous scenes) what do you see?
'Black.' 'Fat.' 'Small boobs.' 'Large boobs.' 'Latino.'
Production companies put women put into categories like products in order to be easily digested by the masses. In Amsterdam's Red Light District, women working in the windows are arranged into nationalities in order to cater to men's sexual preferences. Which, when you think about it, is a bit gross.
A group of models are questioning whether we're underestimating the intelligence of the public, whilst also actively harming people's self esteem by pigeonholing women's bodies into these so-called 'acceptable' categories.
Clementine Desseaux, the first plus sized model to be hired by Christian Laboutin, and Charli Howard, a size six model who was dropped by a UK agency for being 'too big' said to I-D magazine: "The industry needs to stop associating beauty with a size, or putting women into categories because of their size, colour or sexuality,"
"We traditionally associate plus-size girls with terms like 'curvy' and 'real women', and straight-size models as 'high fashion' and 'editorial', missing out a vital fact - we're all women, and should be treated as such."
The campaign is headed by the two women and also Eliot Sailors, Iskra Lawrence, Denise Bardot and Barbie Ferreira who are all passionate about increasing the diversity in modelling.
Girl power!