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Meditor@theotherpress.ca

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Minews@theotherpress.ca

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Mfeatures@theotherpress.ca

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Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

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Mopinions@theotherpress.ca

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Mhumour@theotherpress.ca

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Image from CarolinaCadillo.net

I'm a motherfuckin’ Munster

ppearance and physicality

are central aspects of
fashion. All you have to do is
look at the relative uniformity
of the modelling world to know
that. Few models challenge the
standard slender, tall figures
that dominate runways and
fashion spreads—”plus-size”
models tend to be anyone
between a size six and size
14. One model, Tess Munster
(a.k.a. Tess Holliday), has
started a movement both
in fashion and on social
media, as a 575’, size 22 model
now signed to Milk Model
Management. Her campaign to
#EffYourBeautyStandards has
inspired women of all sizes to
challenge the status quo, but
many people have spoken out
against Munster’s “unhealthy”
size, asserting that she
encourages women to be obese.

Essentially, Munster’s rise
to fame has instigated some
grade-A fat-shaming.

It’s infuriating, this
widespread shrugging at how
unrealistic and unhealthy the
extremely skinny body types
which make up the fashion
world are. Many have chosen

© Getloknowus!

© The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976. Since 1978 we have
been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We area registered society
under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors
appointed by our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus.

© The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during
the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tutition fees every
semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a
member ofthe Canadian University Press (CUP), asyndicate of student newspapers that includes

: to cherry pick Munster’s body

: image as particularly unhealthy,
: largely due to society’s

: judgement of full-figured

: frames—body-shaming isn’t

: just prevalent in the fashion :
: world. Although Munster’s body :
: has presented a battle ground

: for this debate on health (and

: prejudice), being underweight
: can seriously affect your health
: as well. The UK’s National

: Health Service reports issues

: like anaemia and osteoporosis,
: as well asa weakened immune
: system.

Some of the practices which

are often behind this unhealthy
: body weight—including

: anorexia and bulimia nervosa—
: are also extremely detrimental.

: Potential problems like heart

: failure (due to lowered heart

: rate and blood pressure, and

: possible “irregular heartbeats”)
: and severe dehydration are

: associated with anorexia; heart
: failure, dehydration, potential

: for gastric or esophageal :
: rupture, tooth decay, ulcers, and :
: pancreatitis are associated with
: bulimia nervosa, according to

: the National Eating Disorders

: Association.

papers from all across Canada.

© The OtherPressreservestheright to choose what we will publish, and we will not publish material
that is hateful, obscene, or condones or promotes illegal activities. Submissions may be edited
for clarity and brevity if necessary. All images used are copyright to their respective owners.

Of course there are also

: serious health issues with

: being overweight—no one is

: pretending that there aren't.

: Nonetheless, judging one body
: type based on its associated

health issues while ignoring

: the health issues of other

: body types is biased; it feeds

: into the prevalent problem of

: body-shaming. Pretending that
: Munster’s image will encourage
: young women to be obese also

: ignores that women are killing
: themselves to be skinny.

The fact is, Munster isn’t

: encouraging people to be

: obese—and it’s ludicrous to

: suggest that she is. Munster

: represents loving yourself as

: you are, and realizing that your
: weight doesn’t determine your
: beauty or your value as a person,
: with statements like, “I hope

: this makes you realize that it’s

: okay to be yourself, even if you
: happen to exist in a fat body.’

Clearly this is an important

message, with Munster

touting almost 500,000

followers on Instagram, and

: 100,000 followers on the

: EffYourBeautyStandards

: account that she launched. The

: widespread support for Munster
: and her campaign might emerge
: from the fact that women tend

: to look more like her than

: they do a Victoria’s Secret

: model: TakePart.com reports

: ona study from Centers for

: Disease Control and Prevention

: (CDC) which demonstrated

: that “the average waist size for

: an American woman is 37.8

: inches. And a full 64 per cent

: of ladies have waists larger than

: 34.6 inches, which puts them

: into what the CDC calls an

: ‘abdominal obesity’ zone.”

Tess Munster is absolutely

: gorgeous—that’s why she’s a

: model. More than that though,
: she’s a beacon of positivity

: and a healthy body image, in

: an industry that is constantly

: telling people “You aren’t good
: enough.” Rather than trying

: to tear Munster down for

: representing the majority of

: women’s body types, it makes
: far more sense to extend her

: message of positivity to all

bodies.

Hello gorgeous,

Natali Serafin’

Editor-in-Chief

@ theotherpress.ca

 

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