Ashley Graham is polarizing again (and looking arguably hot doing it). The plus-size model donned an itty-bitty string bikini, cellulite and all. She hinted to Victoria's Secret that it's time for an overweight model to grace their runway. And that is provoking debate over obesity dangers, weight loss and big body love. Graham's sexy photoshoot gave rise to another dilemma: How can Ashley rock a string bikini at a solid 250 pounds when other "fat people" can't?
Ashley Graham: Is obesity sexy?
The 29-year-old model is more than happy to flaunt her curves.
But she isn't always praised for doing so. Graham gets a lot of fat-shaming. She gets a lot of kudos though, too, and not just from big body love advocates. Many find Graham incredibly hot because she's overweight -- not in spite of it. Weight gain does beg some health concerns, though. Are people sugar-coating obesity problems as "body confidence"?
Cheryl Tiegs questions obese models
Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs got seven levels of shade for questioning plus-size models. She suggested that they advocate weight gain. To be politically correct, the big body lovers seem to encourage obesity. A record number of Americans (including kids and teens) have given themselves hypertension, high cholesterol, liver problems, heart failure, Type 2 diabetes and other weight-related diseases.
There are so many with prediabetes (Insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome) that some pharmacies give out Metformin free.
Ashley Graham too fat, other models too thin?
Fat people aren't the only ones with weight-related problems. Thin people suffer from their own issues, along with some of the same ones that fat folks do. Hypertension, high cholesterol, etc., are just hidden in what looks like a healthy body.
Plus-size people have accused skinny models of promulgating anorexia and rightly so. The diet of a supermodel is, by default, an eating disorder. Also, overweight people like Ashley Graham aren't alone in body-shaming. Many decry fat-shaming but then happily thin-shame.
Ashley Graham distributes the wealth
Graham may or may not be hot.
But one thing she isn't is a big girl oozing fat and expecting everyone to call it sexy. Ashley Graham succeeds where other much thinner people don't because her assets are evenly distributed. And she has the good fortune to lack belly fat. No one -- not even the plastic surgery-loving, breast implant and butt lift-happy Kardashian clan -- wants that.
Plus-sized models deserve day in the sun?
Ashley Graham sent Victoria's Secret a message posing on an angel wings float: put big girls on the VS runway. She's a poster girl for the plus-size model movement. Does that mean every big girl should be confident in her fat? Probably not. Morbidly obese Ashley Nell Tipton models for JC Penney. Whitney Way Thore of reality TV's "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" is a proud 400 pounds. Both were warned by doctors to lose weight or they weren't going to be around long.
