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Why the Internet can't stop obsessing over this curvy model

January 28, 2019 13:19 IST

Is curvy model Taylor the new Ashley Graham in the making? 

Photographs: Courtesy Taylor T/Instagram

Meet Taylor Tak, a South Korean curvy model who is breaking stereotypes in the fashion world.

She hopes that young girls see her photos and realise that a person's weight and size don't define their self-worth. 

'Losing weight shouldn't be your life goal,' she says. 'You're not born to just lose weight.'

Here's what she hates: 'Straight size girls trying freaking hard to make fake fat rolls, pinching their rolls... and calling that body positivity.'

She says, 'That's mortifying, humiliating, insulting. 

'Honestly, even for me, it's not really easy to say body positivity is my space, knowing that body positivity was pioneered in the 1960s by black and queer women to fight discrimination in public spaces, the workplace and doctors' offices.

'As a person who wears US size 14, I can see people saying 'upto your size is fine' then giving that disgusted look to bigger people than I am.

'That's unpleasant, absolutely not right and absolutely far from body positive movement.

'If you really wanna be body-positive, shouldn’t you consider how much your behaviours and posts harm those larger people than you WHO ACTUALLY HAVE ROLLS?

'Yes, yes. All bodies matter and all bodies should be represented. I'm all for that.

'But, who's taking over in this plus-size fashion, body positivity industry? How much do we get to see models who actually wear more than size 14?

'Under the name of body positive movement, are all shapes, sizes really represented now? Are all colours really represented?

'Your kind of body positivity is literally generating another discrimination and hatred. If you still don't get what I’m talking about, you're that much privileged.'

Taylor didn't always love the way she looked. There was a time when she hated her cheekbones.

'Do you know a lot of people in Korea feel shamed to have cheekbones (so some people would do surgery for this) while majority of people in the West are trying to create high cheekbones?' she questions her followers on Instagram.

'Honestly, I used to hate my cheekbones as well.

'I massaged my face bone so hard that I had bruises on my face. Lol. My point is, I came to love my cheekbones now.'

She wants people to 'love their bodies and teach their minds to respect not only their body but also others bodies.'  

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