I can’t tell you how many times I have picked up fashion mags to inevitably put them down due to depression. Yes, I am often depressed after seeing models near the brink of death. Thin, frail and at times emaciated. I can’t take it and often I put the magazines down quickly because I cannot bear to continue any longer.

I cannot tell you about what designer I saw, what makeup was used, nothing about the clothing because I’m often too distraught to notice. How could she kill herself like that? Will she live long enough to reach retirement? I finally end vowing to never purchase the magazine again seeing it as a contributor to the destruction of women.

Well, thank God for Glamour Magazine. Their article What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body was an eye-opener and it is so true, we as women tend to be hard on our bodies. But wait, there was something else. Who is the woman in the photo, glowing, smiling confidently with a little bit of belly fully exposed? How wonderful to see a woman confident about her body and she is not among the emaciated model types near death, how wonderful that is.

Apparently, I was not the only one who noticed the attractive and very healthy looking model.  Other women saw her and spoke out joyously.  One commenter said:

I thank you so much for this article, I’m 29 years old and always have had this pooch around my belly, even as a size 6, and every single woman in my family does, but it’s so frustrating when you hear that you should lose weight from people who are supposed to support you. My Bf of one year, has got to the point of telling me that my imperfect body makes me so undesirable, I started dieting and excersicing like crazy, but still the pooch was there and he kept telling me “if you lose more weight I’ll like you more”. I finally stoped. I had lost about 22 pounds since we started dating and my skin, hair and general looks was not good. I looked way too thin and sick. I finally got in terms with my body: this is me, this is how I am, and I deserve to be loved. Sometimes we need courage to get away from those who’s sick expectations menace to sick us and make us feel uncomfortable as well.

Oh how well do I know.  Yes, there are some sickos out there who believe all women should come in a size 1 to 3 but certainly not 12 to 14.  I can tell you I was overjoyed to see a model confident in her appearance without feeling the need to uncomfortably suck it in.

But wait, there’s more.  Apparently women flooded the gates at Glamour to tell of their overwhelming approval.  In a blog post on Glamour entitled “On the C.L.: The Picture You Can’t Stop Talking About: Meet ‘the Woman on p. 194′”, the Editor, Cindi Leive, states:

It’s a photo that measures all of three by three inches in our September issue, but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands. (As editor-in-chief, I pay attention to this stuff!) “I am gasping with delight…I love the woman on p 194!” said one…then another, and another, and another and another and another. So…who is she? And what on earth is so special about her?

Here’s the deal: The picture wasn’t of a celebrity. It wasn’t of a supermodel. It was of a woman sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and a belly that looks…wait for it…normal.

Yes, the belly is normal and that is what made the photograph so wonderful.  How many of us have bellies like that?  I would dare say the majority of us.  Yes, 20-year old model Lizzi Miller is just like many of us, we have a little belly fat and so what.  In the article, Lizzi addresses her own experiences growing up and dealing with size and trying to measure up to others:

“When I was young I really struggled with my body and how it looked because I didn’t understand why my friends were so effortlessly skinny,” Lizzi told me. “As I got older I realized that everyone’s body is different and not everyone is skinny naturally–me included! I learned to love my body for how it is, every curve of it. I used to be so self-conscious in a bikini because my stomach wasn’t perfectly defined. But everyone has different body shapes! And it’s not all about the physical! If you walk on the beach in your bikini with confidence and you feel sexy, people will see you that way too.”

As for the letters, Lizzi’s loving them. “When I read them I got teary-eyed!” she says. “I’ve been that girl, flipping through magazines trying to find just one person who looked a little bit like me. And when I didn’t find it I would start to think there’s something wrong with the way that I looked. When J. Lo and Beyoncé came out and were making curves sexy, I started to accept myself more. It’s funny, but just seeing them look and feel sexy enabled me to do the same.” Lizzi, now you’re doing the same for all of us–massive congrats on that.

I love it.  Today on The Today Show, Both Lizzi and Glamour’s Editor Cindi Leive talked about the now infamous photo and how fashion is a “very thin industry.”  I hope the tides are changing in fashion because I am sick of seeing airbrushed and photoshopped images of women.  Thank you Glamour for making me smile — okay, well perhaps I was doing a big ‘ol dance with thumbs up.  Hopefully Glamour and other magazines will note the response and make a change.  All women should be represented and I’d like to see more women like me represented.

The Today Show