Eff Your Beauty Standards

Tess Munster will be a name we will be hearing a lot over the coming months and possibly even years.

The plus sized Insta-model has just signed her first modelling contract with Milk and has also featured in Vogue! This happened after her #EffYourBeautyStandards campaign started to go viral a couple of years ago. Her aim was to show women of all shapes and sizes that it doesn't matter what size you are, you can still be beautiful and, more importantly, confident.

I was teased a lot for my size when I was younger, I wasn't huge but I was by no means stick thin like the pretty girls. It still affects my confidence to this day and make me feel like I can't wear what I want because I need to hide the fact that I'm not skinny. However, for me, this campaign brings hope. Hope that children will stop calling each other names because they don't look like the famous role models that can put a stick insect to shame. Hope that girls in high school will be more accepting of each other and not degrade others to make them believe they are lesser because they are a bit bigger.

Tess Munster will hopefully make companies realise that some of their sizes are unrealistic and that telling a girl she's bigger than what meets the standards of the shop is out of order (I'm looking at you, yes you, the shops that don't stock larger than a size 14). It has been found that more women are closer to the size of size-22 Tess compared to the models for shops like Victoria's Secret and Topshop. Surely this must tell them that they need to start making girls feel more accepted no matter what they look like.

There is a very powerful message we can all take away from Tess' opportunities. Just like her, any girl can be beautiful, sexy and confident.