With eyebrows bushy enough to rival Cara’s and with a size 4 body fit for the catwalk, it’s no surprise that 23 year old Charli Howard was scouted to be a model at the tender age of 17. What is a surprise, however, is that she was recently dropped by her agency for being “too big.” Like Swedish model Agnes Hedengård, who recently suffered the same body shaming bullshit, the British beauty posted an open letter on Facebook, which has now gone viral.
“Here’s a big FUCK YOU to my (now ex) model agency,” she wrote, “for saying that at 5″8 tall and a UK size 6-8 (naturally), I’m ‘too big’ and ‘out of shape’ to work in the fashion industry, I refuse to feel ashamed and upset on a daily basis for not meeting your ridiculous, unobtainable beauty standards…In case you hadn’t realised, I am a woman. I am human, I cannot miraculously shave my hip bones down, just to fit into a sample size piece of clothing or to meet ‘agency standards’. And anyway, let’s face the facts: When I was 7 and a half stone, I still wasn’t thin enough for you… Until (and if) an agency wishes to represent me for myself, my body & the WOMAN I’ve become, give me a call. Until then, I’m off to Nandos.”
While social media has certainly helped us undermine this current culture of body shaming bullshit (thanks to campaigns such as #effyourbeautystandards and #droptheplus going viral), examples like this show that we’ve still got a very long way to go until we reach a more body positive future. But thank goodness there are people like Charli and Agnes willing to stand up and speak out.