Ashley Graham is sick of getting criticized on Instagram.
In a new essay for Lenny Letter, titled “Shamed If I Do, Shamed If I Don’t,” Graham called out body shamers who accuse her of being “too curvy” and “too small.”
“When I post a photo from a ‘good angle,’ I receive criticism for looking smaller and selling out,” she wrote. “When I post photos showing my cellulite, stretch marks, and rolls, I’m accused of promoting obesity. The cycle of body-shaming needs to end. I’m over it.”
“I’m a confident woman with thick skin, and as a model in the public eye, I’m conditioned to accept criticism,” she wrote. “But last week, I admit that I had a tougher time brushing off the haters.”
Ashley Graham is referring to a photo that she posted on Instagram, calling it “one of those photos where you look and say to yourself, ‘YESSSS, HONEY! I look damn good!'” However, her fans had other thoughts, “You don’t love the skin you’re in, you want to conform to Hollywood, you believe being skinnier is prettier,” one user commented. “You don’t make plus-size dollars anymore, you make backstabbing dollars,” wrote another.
While people were upset that she appeared to have lost weight in the photo, Graham said that in reality, she hasn’t lost any weight. “I know my angles, just like we all know our favourite filters and lighting and our good sides. I pick the photos I like best,” she wrote. She added, “If I did want to lose weight, it would be no one’s decision but my own.”
While Graham is proud of the things she has done to represent body diversity and more plus-size models in the modeling industry, her body doesn’t represent who she is. “I am more than my measurements. I’m not Ashley Graham just because I’m curvy,” she wrote. “I refuse to let others dictate how I live my life and what my body should look like for their own comfort. And neither should you[…] My body is MY body. I’ll call the shots.”
You can read over at Lenny Letter.
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