Ashley Graham Says Her Body Is Still Treated Like An Object
Supermodel Ashley Graham has redefined beauty standards in the fashion industry, but she still says her body is treated like an object.
“My body has always been treated as a thing and not mine. You’re the sexy girl. You’re the naked girl. Men are going to idolize your hourglass figure,” she said in th July cover of Allure. “It was always about what others thought about my body until I gained a voice. Now I get to tell people what I think of my body.”
The model, and host of The American Beauty Star, is continuing to speak out about the unfair treatment of models and how that attitude is reflected in culture.
“The biggest thing that we have to conquer is diversity and inclusion. You can’t just check the box and be like, ‘Oh, we did it,’ ” she added, further explaining that being a trailblazer is great, but there’s always room for more.
“I have never looked at tokenism as a bad thing,” she continued, “as long as the brand, the client — whoever has the mission — continues to branch out and say, ‘This was our first time; next time we’re going to add more of the race, the gender, the sexuality, the religion, the disability,’ whatever it is.”
Read the full interview at Allure.