Why these body positive models are sharing their insecurities with the world
It’s not easy being body-positive in a body-negative world. No one knows this better than Australian model Jessica Vander Leahy, which is why she’s started #ProjectWomanKIND, a web series in which models of all different sizes speak openly about struggles they’ve had with self-image, and how they’ve worked through their insecurities and have learned to not just accept, but love the skin they’re in.
As Vander Leahy explains in her own video, body acceptance is not a destination, but rather a constant journey.
“I feel great about my body, you know, today I feel great about my body. Some days it can, you know, I’m like everyone else, I guess, you know, I wake up and I think ‘Oh my God, what the hell were you thinking, for one second, thinking you were pretty.’ I think you look at yourself and you go ‘Ugh, how did anyone ever kiss this face?’ and then, you know, you just get over it, get on with it, and another good day comes.”
What’s so great about what Vander Leahy is saying, both with her own video and this series as a whole, is that it’s OK to be honest about feeling badly about yourself when that’s what you’re feeling. Body positivity doesn’t mean you have to feel amazing about yourself every single minute of every single hour of the day. What it DOES mean is that you are able to recognize the things about yourself that are beautiful and you are empowered to, as Vander Leahy says “get over it, get on with it.”
Another model featured in the series is Stefania Ferrario, a size 8 model who spearheaded the social media movement #droptheplus.
In #ProjectWomanKIND, Ferrario explains that even though she is comfortable with and happy in her own body, she too can get swept up by body negativity.
“Although I’m really comfortable in my body, sometimes I still get caught up in [insecurity.] I think a lot of women, no matter how comfortable they are, get caught up in certain parts of their body.Sometimes I get, I suppose about my bum and my thighs I go ‘Oh, they’re too big, what if they were a bit smaller?’ and then I sort of have to make myself snap out of it and tell myself ‘Stop it, you’re being an idiot!’But yeah, overall I think I’m really comfortable now.”
Over on Instagram, the realness keeps coming with #ProjectWomanKIND with empowering messages about facing and overcoming insecurity.
We love this series for making insecurity an acceptable and normal part of a body positivity journey. It’s OK to not feel crazy-amazing about yourself every single moment of the day, just as long as the direction you’re moving in is a loving, accepting, positive direction.
To check out the entire series, head over to #ProjectWomanKIND’s YouTube and Instagram
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(Images via Instagram)
