YouTube"No one should be comfortable at a size 14?" Well, these women certainly are.
Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covergirl Ashley Graham, Orange Is the New Black star Danielle Brooks and models Candice Huffine and Alessandra Garcia-Lorida have all stripped down to their undies in honor of Lane Bryant's new fall campaign, "#ThisBody Is Made to Shine."
The women—all curvy in shape—sport tons of skin as they embrace their bodies in an accompanying video and repeat insults posted on social media about women their size.
"No one should be comfortable at a size 14," Brooks restates in a black body suit. "Well I sure the hell am."
"Do you see those rolls?" Huffine reads. "Welcome to the bakery, honey."
One by one, the women strike a pose, strut and shimmy as they flaunt the bodies that have long been neglected and shamed by society.
"She'd never be a model if it wasn't for her dad," Alessandra, who is the daughter of actor Andy Garcia, repeats. "But I got all this from my mama."
Graham, who became the first plus-size model to cover the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition this year, got the chance to respond to her naysayers. "You ruined Sports Illustrated," she mimics. "Well, the way I see it—I made it better forever."
Still, the most eyeopening response comes from Sidibe, who was asked, "How did you get through the door?" With a smile and some sass, the star showed everyone exactly how she does it—by simply putting one foot in front of the other.
For the pièce de résistance, Brooks drives the video home with a mantra worthy of a grand finale. "Big is not always beautiful," she repeats. "Have you lost your mind? It is always beautiful!"
The women, who are all public figures in their respective fields, have been on the receiving end of physical scrutiny since they first entered their industries. After years of modeling, Graham still battles a catch-22 of even not being plus-size enough.
"To some I'm too curvy. To others I'm too tall, too busty, too loud, and, now, too small — too much, but at the same time not enough," she wrote in Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter. "When I post a photo from a 'good angle,' I receive criticism for looking smaller and selling out. 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."
While this video will hopefully help to quiet the naysayers, we only have one thing to say to these women—slay, sistas, slay!