Roxy Hammond

It has recently come to my attention that former supermodel Tyra Banks has gained 30 pounds. Dear God, the world must be ending. You would think so, judging by the public outcry about how she’s gotten FAT!

I mean, she’s 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 161 pounds. It’s amazing she can even walk! The fat must be just hanging off of her, dragging along on the ground behind her!

Maybe not. Maybe she falls right into the healthy weight range. Maybe our society has become so superficial that when a gorgeous woman gains 30 pounds and actually looks like a WOMAN, we throw our arms in the air and cry heresy.

She weighs less than 10 pounds more than I do, and she’s two inches taller. So if that means she’s fat … I guess I’m a cow. Maybe that’s what bothers me about this whole situation – the people that are calling her fat are really also calling me fat. That irks me a bit.

I entered high school barely weighing 100 pounds. Eight years later, I weigh 50 pounds more than that. And you know what? I feel way hotter now than I did as a scrawny little freshman.

Yes, I have my own issues with my body. In certain lighting, I don’t even like to look in the mirror. But when it comes down to it, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. I fall right into the range of what I should weigh for my height and frame, and I’m going to rejoice in that.

Do you know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to enjoy the food I eat and thank Tyra Banks. Because during the entire outcry over her ‘fatness,’ she’s done what every healthy woman should and given society the finger.

I watched a segment of her talk show where she stood in front of her studio audience in her bathing suit and nearly burst into tears while she talked about how much of a disgrace it is that healthy, beautiful women get put down because they aren’t stick-thin. She finished this impassioned speech by telling all of these haters to kiss her “fat ass.”

I think I may have just fallen in love with Tyra Banks. Instead of heading to the nearest bathroom to vomit up all of her food, she pushes back and challenges the criticism. We could really use more people like her as role models, women who are confident in themselves and don’t let what society says shape how they feel about themselves. That’s truly invaluable.

I mean, what is the cost of our need for perfection? Little girls who don’t feel good enough? Years in rehab for eating disorders? Millions of dollars spent trying to make our tummies flatter?

And for what? Health is not based on how good you look in a bathing suit. If you’re going to work out, do it to get your heart pumping, not to make your butt firmer. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is going to be more important to your future than how good you looked when you were 20 or 30 or 40.

After all, the weather is getting warmer, and that means I’ll be venturing out with my bathing suit. And when I slip into that little number, I’m going to think of Tyra Banks, and how she’s had the bravery to face her harshest critics and be happy with who she is as a person, not as a body.

If anyone has a problem with that … then hey, they can kiss my fat ass too.

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