Everyone is familiar with "Sports Illustrated" the magazine—especially their swimsuit edition that comes out every year. Boys, girls women and men have all flipped through this magazine at some point in their lives. Whether they were wishing they could look like that girl, or be with that girl. However this year the magazine is a little different.
Ashley Graham will be appearing in the 2016 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. She is a model, a businesswoman, a motivational speaker, and the list could go on and on. Even though she has been in the spotlight before there is a good chance you have never heard of her before. This is because of two little words: "Plus Size." Ashley is a plus size model. After appearing as the first plus size model to be on the "Sports Illustrated" cover, a lot of people have been buzzing about her.
So what's the big deal?
This cover of "Sports Illustrated" is changing the magazine and fashion industry. They are doing this because they are showing women who range from size 0-22. They are proving how beauty isn't justified by a number. The fashion and entertainment industries are slowly starting to be inclusive of bodies of all sizes. While I wasn't one of those girls who wished to morph into the girl they saw in the magazine, there are millions who do. With having a plus size model such as Ashley Graham on the cover, they will no longer with that. The boys who think that the Swimsuit Edition is an actual representation of what every woman should look like, and realize that they don't. With this cover, comes the ability for real women to look at it and see someone like them. Someone who is sexy and beautiful.
Though I have never felt the want to become and look like someone I'm not, I did feel a sense of joy when I first found about this cover. I will probably never look that good in a swimsuit in the ocean, but I did see myself in her. Her butt looks like mine as well as her arms, I can honestly say I have never been able to see myself in another model in Sports Illustrated.
"Sports Illustrated" deserves an applause. They are going beyond the confines of underweight models, to women who are actually healthy. This cover is such a big part of the Body Positivity movement. Hopefully other magazines see that having a "plus size" model won't ruin your sales, if anything it will boost them.
