Ashley Graham Is Two Sizes Bigger Than An Average-Sized American Woman

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Ashley Graham could just be the model the average-sized American woman has been looking for. Looking at reed-thin women (almost caricatures) on the magazine covers does no good to the self respect of most women. Ashley Graham is a size 16, reports the Daily Mail, but does that make her a spokesperson for an “average” American women who are almost the same size?

An average American woman wears a size 14, reports SF Gate. Although it may be argued that an “average” size being labelled as a “plus-size” is worrying, it’s refreshing to see a woman with some meat on her bones on the page of a fashion magazine.

One may be more than happy to know that Graham’s waist is a good thirty inches, while her bust size is listed at 38 inches, by her agency, IMG, and it’s not often one hears that. A report says that an average American woman wears a size 14 and more than half of them are plus size (14-34).

The lovely girl from Lincoln, Nebraska, was discovered when she was only twelve. She has been in news lately for being picked up to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She has also been on the covers of Elle, Cover Magazine, and the Sunday Times Style. She had already made history by appearing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue of 2015. She was the first-ever curvy model to be on the cover.

At a time when skinny is in, Graham’s Sports Illustrated stint could instill a lot of confidence in an average-sized woman. Graham doesn’t shy away from being an advocate for an average-sized or even a plus-sized woman.

“It is so important to be healthy and I truly believe you can be healthy at any size,” Daily Mail reported her as saying.

She says she firmly believes one can be healthy at pretty much any weight. “You can be a size 2, 12 or 22, it doesn’t matter as long as you get off the couch and you take care of your body. Your body is going to thank you at the end of the day.”

“I never truly know how to answer that question except from by showing I’m not afraid of my curves and my cellulite. You’re only able to attain that when it comes from you.”

She says she was very happy that Sports Illustrated had taken it upon themselves to be an advocate of positive body image.

“I thought Sports Illustrated was taking a risk by putting a girl my size in the pages,” Graham said. “But putting me on the cover? They aren’t just breaking barriers; they are the standard now. This is beyond epic.”

“I see my cover and I wanted to drop to my knees but this dress would’ve ripped and I have Spanx on underneath this,” Graham, 28, told People about her strapless body con dress after the reveal on Saturday.

She goes on to say that it’s a big deal not just for her but for all of society.

“Girls who are insecure about their bodies, girls who feel fat, girls who have cellulite, girls who have stretch marks on their body — those are all the things that I had as a kid and I never had a woman like me growing up to look at,” Graham said. “I had my mother and that’s one thing, but to have somebody who has cellulite, who has things that jiggle, who has back fat and talk about how you can be an overcomer and not let society take you down for all of that. That’s real,” Style News reported

It sure seems like the magazine has done a great deal to boost the confidence of an average american woman. But it remains to be seen whether this tradition would be continued after Ashley Graham has graced the cover of the magazine.

[Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images]