The national average size of women in America is 16, but if you were to look at the pages of the average magazine, you would have no idea.
In order to right a little bit of that wrong, Cosmopolitan.com invited a group of size-16 women to don the same style of bikini and shake their natural assets on video in the name of normalizing what is already normal.
The clip sees each of the six ladies wearing a fetching black and white bathing suit with high-waisted bottoms, and sharing their feelings about their bodies.
Baring all: Six women who are all size 16 don the same style of bikini to show what the average American woman looks like
Details: The ladies describe growing up with self-esteem issues about their body based on expectations of others
‘I never really saw any women who looked like me or represented me in the media,’ explains one woman.
‘I was always told, you know: “You need to lose weight, you need to be taller, you need to be thinner,”‘ adds another.
Some women are then seen mentioning hating their body and dealing with eating disorders in their youth.
Getting emotional: This woman begins to tear up as she describes how ‘tiring’ it is to hide her real feelings about her body
Getting down: The women then break out into a dance, showing off their curves in the stylish black and white bikinis
‘You don’t want other people to know how you really feel. You want them to think of you as beautiful and sexy and confident, so you portray that on the outside.
‘But I think when you’re hiding a secret for so long… it’s tiring,’ adds one young lady.
Upon learning that their size was actually the national average, some woman expressed surprise – having frequently been treated as something other than normal.
Each of the women are then given the chance to show off their curves with a playful dance, wiggling their hips with big smiles on their faces.
Jump up: Some of the women were shocked to learn that they were the national average in size
Busting a move: The video ends with one of the ladies saying that size is ‘just a number’ and ‘as long as you feel healthy and good about it, rock it!’
The ladies exude confidence and comfort with their body as they groove away, apparently having overcome some of their previous hang-ups.
One interviewee adds to the camera that ‘seeing other confident women made me feel more confident.’
The clip ends with one of the empowered ladies explaining how ‘it doesn’t matter’ what size you are, be it a 2, a 12 or a 22, because ‘it’s just a number’.
‘As long as you feel healthy and good about it, rock it!’ she says.