Nobody knows their not perfect until somebody tells them that they’re not.
-Allison Kopach
The film, There She Is, follows best friends Allison Kopach and Jenny Flores, as they compete in a 2011 beauty pageant. The ladies are revisited in 2012 to discuss how the outcome of the pageant has changed their lives. But, this is no ordinary pageant.
Beauty queens, Jenny and Allison, were competing in the American Beauties Plus Pageant.
You read that correctly, there is a film coming out about two plus sized beauty pageant queens. Unlike Miss America, the pageant that immediately came to my mind, the American Beauties Plus Pageant gives plus sized women a place to shine.
Filmakers Emily Sheskin and Veena Rao, wanting to create a film about women and how we define beauty, came across the plus size beauty pageant industry, and knew it was the right fit for their documentary. After all, the average size woman in the United States is a size 14.
During the film making process, we discovered that what was most compelling is the conflict between our characters’ desire to be comfortable in their own skin and celebrate their beauty while at the same time never having their physical appearance fully accepted outside of the plus size pageantry world. We also realized that their inner conflict is in many ways universal, and extends to everyone who faces a discrepancy between their self-image and the influential yet unattainable images surrounding them.
-Veena Rao
Emily and Vena are currently running an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the final touches of their movie. So far, they have raised about $6,500 of the $7,500 needed to get this film produced.
Ladies, we need to help them.
This film will not only change how we view beauty queens, but on a personal level, it is going to make women like me feel better about living in my own skin. It’s changing the perception of what it means to be beautiful, because I, for one, am tired of the media defining that for me. It’s the reason I jumped at the chance to write for Curvy Girl Guide. I wanted to change the norm. I wanted to talk openly about my insecurities.
Watch the movie trailer and mission below
Even if you cannot help them financially, please share this with other women.
Confidence is something that I think any woman of any size battles with. And when it’s compromised, for me, I have to throw a little crying pity party, get it out, call my mom and remind myself that I’m one hell of a woman, I work hard and I’m a great role model! I have amazing family and friends and at the end of the day it’s all about those things in my corner. And I want other women to recognize that too, that it’s okay. Insecurity is going to happen to everyone, but it’s how we are proactive that matters.
-Allison Kopach
Maybe today is the day your best friend went on yet another diet. Maybe today is the day your sister looked in the mirror and cried. Maybe today is the day your coworker overheard someone talking about how she’s let herself go. Maybe today is the day your daughter was picked on at school.
Maybe today is the day… we change all of that.
love these girls. they are role models to all women no matter what size or shape.
LOVE this! LOVE LOVE LOVE.
It’s funny their is no mention of Marilyn Monroe & Betty Page etc…They would be considered PLUS SIZE by todays standards because they to averaged size 14. I have averaged a 12-18 over the last 6yrs and have been told by a sales women that I’m NOT plus size…lol Since I was 10yrs of age my weight &size were slender & athletic, however I always hated the FIT of clothing, they just never seemed to be right & these days clothing is made mostly in CHINA where it really FEELS like its MADE BACKWARDS. I too have been doing a lot of research on the human anatomy, from yesterdays standards to current standards, today anorexia/heroine sizes are the “normal” even considered “healthy.” Thin is NOT always healthy but amazing that society says that it is & then sooo many ppl from all ages cultures & places read & listen to these OPINIONS & allow themseves to BELIEVE it, IGNORING their OWN INSTINCTS, literally IGNORING THEIR OWN LIVELIHOOD: THEIR BODIES!!
I am the “BODY LISTENER.” As far as I know, I AM the ONLY Body Listener!!
Here is the problem…women are ingrained to believe that our beauty is our greatest value…part of this is biological, you know, drive to attract a mate to procreate…but a larger part is our society that is built on a history of a woman’s beauty being more rewarded than her intelligence, humor, kindness, etc. We say things like “big is beautiful,” because it HAS to be, or we have no value. How about, instead of teaching our daughters that being too skinny is ugly, or that being overweight is beautiful, that we focus on the real problem. Little girls need to be taught, and women need to learn, that our contributions are more important that what we look like. Also, we should always, always, always, be encouraging everyone to make healthy choices. from there, the chips will fall where they may…i.e., there are people who are fit and healthy at many different sizes – but being any particular size, whether it be a size 2 or a size 20 does not alone determine that you are fit and healthy. My real hope is that someday, somehow, women will realize that we don’t need to put some other group down (i.e., the skinny bitches, the fat slobs, the plain janes, whatever) to feel our own worth.
Very uplifting..but also makes me very sad to realize how many years and miserable trips to stores (where they are taught to make one feel like shit)..I have spent over the years. ‘Must be hard being you’..someone said to me once. Heartbreaking. At the rate we are going, ladies, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get very far in making ourselves more empowered and just plain happy in our skin. I never have.
I never even got to wear a pair of jeans till I was abot 14 years old.Till this day, I don’t try to be sexy. Oh please. Why would I?I like this blog – but it just makes me feel lonely and even more ostrasized.
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