i'm fiercely real

In this book, I want to illustrate the stereotypes and idealizations that women face everyday. The words and illustrations that make up the content of this book are personal idealizations that I face as a female bodied person, and what people expect to see when looking at me. However, I want people to know that how I present and express myself may not be the same as how other female bodied and female identified people may express themselves. In a way, these illustrations will just generalize how many women feel, and how the comparison of the illustrations could relate to them; how women might compare themselves to other types of women. For example, look at the illustration on the next page. In the fashion industry, as well as with fashion illustrations, the female is represented to be nine to ten heads tall, with freakishly long and thin limbs. Next to a culturally ideal self, is how I really appear.

In the words of Tyra Banks, I’m considered to be “Fiercely Real,” which translates into “plus sized.” If this is what it means to be fiercely real in the fashion industry, which could be a negative connotation for most women, then I want to turn that statement into a positive one. When looking through this book, I want women to think about how they identify as being “fiercely real.” Self-expression makes us real people, not just the idealization and generalization that other people in the world make of us.

*The comparisons in this book are in my own terms, and are not related to Tyra Banks.