Tess Holliday is continuing her mission of challenging body norms and advocating for the term "plus-size."
In a new interview with Paper Magazine, the gorgeous size-22 model, who announced Wednesday that she is pregnant with her second child, discusses the term "plus-size" and how she doesn't see the term as negative.
"I think the whole thing is actually very silly, because the term has never been used in a negative way. It's never been used as hurtful, it's something that's basically just for women to kind of find where they want to shop, I guess," the fearless leader behind the social media movement #EffYourBeautyStandards tells Paper Magazine. "I do think it's very important, especially for young women who are kind of coming into their bodies, and older women who are becoming more OK with their bodies, to have terms for being bigger.
"When plus-size women look online, or look in magazines, they see that label, or see that term, and they feel like they're not alone. They have something to identify with. I'm really a firm believer in calling it what it is. And I don't really see anyone losing sleep over the fact that they're called plus size."
Holliday, who has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, also speaks of her fellow models (we're assuming big names like Ashley Graham, Robin Lawley and Candice Huffine) who want to ban the terms "plus-size."
"To be honest, myself and several other plus-size models happily embrace the term," the self-proclaimed feminist says. "It's hard for me when I see people who want to ban it, and they're basically working for plus-size companies and are the face of plus-size brands, yet they don't want to be called plus-size."
"There are so many people who think that being a plus-size model, that there's something wrong with it, or that I must be unhealthy or that I'm promoting an unhealthy lifestyle," Holliday continues. "And at first it was very hard, and I blamed it on myself, and then I thought, 'my health is none of their business.'
"I'm modelling for this clothing company, so why are people dissecting my body and telling me that I can't wear some things? That I can't look a certain way because of my body? There are people who look like me, and feel like me, who feel like they don't have a voice, and that encouraged me to keep going."
YAS TESS!
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