LAST WEEK, THE cover of Cosmopolitan in the UK featured Tess Holliday.
And there was never any doubt that the image of 300lb leotard-clad young woman blowing kisses to the camera would pull headlines; of course it would.
At a size 26, Tess isn’t your standard cover girl.
But while many lauded the publication for refusing to perpetuate the notion that cover girls must boast single-digit clothes sizes in order to be deemed worthy of a shoot, others accused the magazine of promoting obesity.
And one such accuser was British broadcaster Piers Morgan.
Taking to Twitter yesterday, the 53-year-old dismissed the notion that Tess’s shoot contributes to the body positive narrative.
Sorry, but 5ft 3in & 300lbs is NOT a ‘positive body image’ to celebrate on the front cover of a magazine as Britain suffers from an ever-worsening obesity crisis. @GMB pic.twitter.com/CwvOQtsOrA
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 3, 2018
And today Cosmopolitan editor, Farrah Storr took him on.
Scoffing at the notion that using Tess’s image would only serve to increase statistics around obesity in the UK, Farrah said:
We have a crisis with metal health and people feeling terrible about body image so this cover – this is one cover which has a larger lady on the cover – in a sea, in a world, in a culture that has venerated thinness. Are people going to look at that and go ‘Do you know what? I’m now going to go mainline doughnuts, this is what I want from my life.’ Of course they’re not. It’s patronising.
Farrah went on to say that the objective behind putting Tess on the cover was to remind readers – and the wider public – that there is more than one way to look.
As editor, she is aware that the vast majority of the publication’s cover girls represent a small proportion of the female community, and insists that featuring Tess will have a positive impact on the mental health of those who seemingly fall outside society’s perception of the ideal body.
We live in a culture which venerates being thin. If there are – and I honestly don’t believe this – a minority of people out there who go ‘Do you know what, morbid obesity is the way for me’… If on the other hand there are millions of people who see this, and they’ve never been exposed to a body like this [on the cover of a glossy magazine] if they go ‘Actually, for one day only, I’m going to feel great about myself.’
Piers was having none of it, insisting that Farrah should have used her position as editor to tell Tess – at some point throughout the interview – that she was unhealthy.
Yep, because that’s definitely Farrah’s job, Piers.
You can watch the full interview here.
