When asked what she felt about people constantly commenting on her curvy figure, Queen Latifah said, “It’s who I am. And we’ve got to keep talking about it so it becomes nothing to talk about anymore. I’m looking forward to that day. But I’m happy to see there are some other girls in the group now. For a while, it felt like it was just me. Now I have Jennifer Hudson, America Ferrera, J.Lo and Beyonce. To me, curves are beautiful. There’s room for anybody.”

I could not agree more: we have to keep talking about the issue of ‘having curves’ so it doesn’t remain such a big deal. The average size of a woman is a size 14, yet media constantly bombards women with stick-thin figures who could easily pass for having Anorexia Nervosa. In fact, many older women who were supermodels in their prime have recently denounced the anorexic “Twiggy” look. These women said they believed many lies in their early modeling careers, some of which include:

1. If you aren’t thin, then you aren’t attractive.
   
2. Being thin is more important than being healthy.
   
3. You must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner.
   
4. Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty.
   
5. Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterward.
   
6. Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly.
   
7. What the scale says is the most important thing.
   
8. Losing weight is good; gaining weight is bad.
   
9. You can never be too thin.
   
10. Being thin and not eating are signs of true willpower and success.

I think it’s important to note that these same women have also said their bodies are now suffering because of malnourishment.

Having said this, before I left Denver, I talked with a woman who said much of the same thing:

“Growing up, my parents constantly pushed me to be thinner. While going through puberty, my father told me that my breasts were just excess fat even though I was a size 2. Long story short, I am forty years old and my body is falling apart. I would love to have more children but feel like my body would absolutely destruct. I have a lot of health troubles because I didn’t eat for so long. Women need to hear that it’s OK to have meat on their bones–that’s the way God meant for women to be! We have the babies! Keep getting this message out there…”

So here’s to continuing to get ‘the message’ out there. Ladies, be healthy and realistic about your body type. Even as Queen Latifah said in another interview, “Even at out healthy weight, some of us are not going to be a size 2, 4 or 6. It wouldn’t look right. I can’t even imagine what I would look like that thin—it’s just not me!”