Lauren Conrad bans the word ‘skinny’ from her website
LAUREN Conrad, the former reality TV star-turned lifestyle guru, is changing the way her website talks about body image.
LAUREN Conrad, the former reality TV star-turned lifestyle guru, is changing the way her website talks about body image.
The star of The Hills and Laguna Beach will no longer use the words “skinny,” “slim,” and “thin” on her lifestyle and fashion site, laurenconrad.com.
“When we’ve talked about getting in shape in the past, words like ‘skinny’, ‘slim’, and ‘thin’ have often come up,” Conrad wrote on her site.
“Starting this month, we’ll be banning any body shaming terms from the site, and replacing them with words like ‘fit’ ‘toned’, and ‘healthy’. We try do to this for the most part anyway, but now we’re making it official!”
Conrad says the word skinny will only be used to describe skinny jeans.
“My editorial team and I had a long talk about it, and we want to make sure that the focus is on being fit as opposed to a number on the scale. Every body is created differently — and healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes,” she wrote.
But don’t worry, Conrad is still happy to make a profit off your insecurities about “swimsuit season”.
“Our June theme here on LaurenConrad.com is going to be Shape Up. You can expect all the great fitness content you’ve come to know and love here on the site, including my LaurenConrad.com Bikini Boot Camp series,” she says.
“So along with the usual fashion, food, and beauty features, I’ll be sharing some of the best ways to sweat. We’ll discuss everything from how to get out of a workout rut to The Smart Girl’s Guide to Reading a Food Label.”
Some of Conrad’s fans suggested other ways she could promote positive body image, such as using more diverse models and having bigger sizes for her clothing line Paper Crown.
“As someone who has a large chest that requires a size 12 or 14 at least, can I tell you how many times I have felt ‘body shamed’ by you ... When you put out clothes that only go up to a size 8 (and run small at that), you are saying to the 70%+ women that wear a size 12 and up that their body doesn’t deserve you ... So please Lauren, instead of just changing a few words to make ‘skinny’ folk not feel so targeted for being “healthy”, think about the other 70% of women that could care less about getting ‘skinny’ and just want to feel pretty,” one commenter wrote on Conrad’s post.
Another wrote: “I think this is great, but what about the models that you use for the images in your articles? If you want to strive for health and fitness instead of focusing on thinness, how about showing models that are above a size 2 who are healthy?”
Conrad is yet to respond to the comments.
What do you think? Is banning the word skinny a positive step for body image? Tweet us @newscomauhq and @beck_sullivan.