After amassing a global fan following of close to a million, a cover of People’s ‘Body Issue’ and a contract with a major modelling agency, Tess Holliday is receiving praise for redefining beauty. But, is Holliday’s rise to fame and social acclamation potentially causing more harm than good?
Far from the typical model stature, Tess Holliday is a UK size 22 and stands at 5ft5”. The 29 year-old beauty does not fit the prevailing beauty ideals, but she has the confidence and charisma of those who do— it is these factors which have undoubtedly hooked supporters. The Mississippi-born, Los Angeles-based model sees herself as a ‘body positive activist’, spearheading the #EffYourBeautyStandards movement and receiving praise from media outlets and consumers alike. Holliday has become synonymous ‘body diversity’ campaigns. an icon of what is branded as ‘body diversity’.
However, in a world where the mass media is obsessed with politically-correctness, the blind acceptance of so-called ‘body diversity’ campaigns and the hailing of Holliday as an icon is pernicious. With a Body Mass Index of 42, Tess Holliday is obese— a fact that is often excluded.
Holliday’s media coverage has revealed a double standard that tries to centre itself with being politically-correct, but falls into realms of hypocrisy instead. For them, it is okay to compare the likes of Kate Moss to waifs and sticks, whereas they would not dare gather equally insensitive similes for the likes of Tess Holliday. Discriminating against people based on their width of their waist is pathetic, irrespective of whether or not they fall into the prevailing beauty ideal (or even the suburbs of that ideal).
Beauty standards should be grounded in health. Why do we have to go from one extreme to another?. I believe publications and public figures need to engage more with the importance of health. This does not mean we should disregard or ridicule overweight and underweight models and celebrities, but they should be covered in balance and acknowledge the facts. Possibly include BMI in model portfolio stats, to promote health above all could be a great step forward.
This issue of body image is especially important since overweight and obesity are at an all time high, having doubled since 1980 to 1.9 billion adults, as noted by the World Health Organisation. Furthermore, WHO have acknowledged that overweight and obesity kills more people than being underweight does. With this, you can see why health professionals fear the extenuating circumstances of Holliday’s rising fame. Hopefully no one would look to Holliday superficially and think that they too could achieve a successful modelling career and large fanbase through piling on 200lbs, however there are some who are that naive.
Tess Holliday has recognised the impact of excess weight on her health, hiring a personal trainer and undergoing a nutritional overhaul. Irrespective of her decreasing weight, Holiday remains an inspirational figure, proving that size does not define beauty. Tess Holliday’s strength and resilience in the midst of harsh criticism and despicable online trolling is what I find to be most inspiring.
Finally, the biggest lesson Holliday teaches us is that it is possible to keep your self-esteem intact whilst bettering ourselves and navigating the, frequently harsh, realities of the world we all inhabit. I just wish all media publications possessed some of Holliday’s courage and contributed to an equilibrium of coverage- rather than picking the side least likely to cause substantial public uproar.
voices. 
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