Australian Model And Founder Of Project WomanKIND, Jessica Vander Leahy, On How Body Positivity Saves Lives

This Project Is Proof That Body Positivity Saves Lives

An inspirational new campaign which champions body positivity among women has launched starring models Stefania Ferrario and Jessica Vander Leahy.

#ProjectWomanKIND is a new web series which sees five models open up - sometimes quite frankly - on the highs and lows of body image.

Jessica Vander Leahy, Olivia Langdon, Sophie Sheppard, Stefania Ferrario and Margaret Macpherson are on a mission to show that there isn't a "one size fits all approach" when it comes to beauty.

Leahy, who launched the initiative, tells HuffPost UK Lifestyle that her main hope for the project is to inspire women to think about themselves more positively and "be kinder to themselves and fellow women".

"I feel like the meaner a woman is to herself, that can only affect her outlook to others," she explains.

Leahy was inspired to launch the campaign after being contacted by people asking advice on how to improve their body image.

"I noticed a few girls I worked with regularly were getting the same kind of messages and emails, so I just figured there must be a gap here in the conversation about body image and how women feel about themselves."

"Body image is something that is obsessed over, especially in the west," she adds, "but it seems like such a one dimensional conversation a lot of the time. I wanted to create something where women could talk about the natural highs and the lows they might go through on the journey to accepting themselves - physically, emotionally, everything."

For Leahy, opening up these conversations among women has already begun to pay off.

"I got told by one young woman in a email that my positive posts on social media had encouraged her to get well from her eating disorder that had previously hospitalised her. She wrote: 'Thank you for helping save my life' and man, that just moved me to tears."

The web series also features incredibly honest interviews with other models, including Stefania Ferrario who spearheaded the #DropThePlus campaign, which calls to stop labelling models who do not fit sample size.

"I think it was really brave for the models involved to be vulnerable and raw about how they feel about themselves," says Leahy.

"They were really willing to go inside themselves and verbalise those inside thoughts and in some moments in the videos you can really hear their voices shaking because they were laying all of these really private things, things they thought about themselves, out for everyone to hear.

"So often you bury your insecurities deep inside and you know you shouldn't say them out loud to anyone because that will expose your weaknesses, but it's very freeing to acknowledge that everyone has insecurities, everybody has weak spots."

In the series, Ferrario opens up about how she used to feel negatively about her body. "It started when I was about six or seven. I started thinking I was fat," she explains.

"I started thinking I was too big. I used to wear baggy clothes to school and hide behind them, and I used to be really jealous of the other girls. I really, really didn’t accept my body when I was younger."

But she says that modelling has helped her to learn to be comfortable with my body. "I love it," she adds.

How To Teach Positive Body Image
#1(01 of10)
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I kept superficial comments about looks on the low down -- theirs, mine and other peoples. Looking well-kempt and co-ordinated was noticed rather than looking beautiful. (credit:Getty)
#2(02 of10)
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I didn’t ban Barbies or princesses, but I added to the mix some real proportioned dolls. Check out Lottie Dolls or Lammily. (credit:Getty)
#3(03 of10)
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Story time included books like The Paper Bag Princess or anything recommended on the Amelia Bloomer Project created by the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association.A Mighty Girl is another great site. It's tag line is: the world's largest collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls. (credit:Getty)
#4(04 of10)
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I made sure my children understood the word diet meant the food you eat. A monkey at the zoo has a diet and so does an athlete. Diet doesn’t mean losing weight.We all have to watch our diet to be healthy. We need to be in a healthy weight range as recommended by our doctors, not our peers or magazines. (credit:Getty)
#5(05 of10)
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As puberty approached I discussed genetics, hormones and the challenges that I faced, as had my mother before me. (credit:Getty)
#6(06 of10)
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My girls used their allowance to buy "J-14" and "Tiger Beat" magazines, but I would give them a subscription to "New Moon" as my Christmas gift. Also check out "Shameless" magazine. (credit:Getty)
#7(07 of10)
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We discussed how the human form comes in all shapes and sizes. Check out Queen Latifah and Beyonce. They are both proud women who embrace their shape and size. (credit:Getty)
#8(08 of10)
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When their bodies blossomed we looked online at what REAL breasts look like. Reality is very different from the porn sites or fashion magazines. (credit:Getty)
#9(09 of10)
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I educated my daughters about how models are Photoshopped by watching and discussing the Dove Self-Esteem campaign. (credit:Getty)
#10(10 of10)
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As they entered into high school we discussed friends who were developing eating disorders and who followed fads such as “pro-ana”, “thigh gap” and “thinspiration.”We talked about the political power to create change, as demonstrated by some magazines and organizations in the fashion industry that banned size zero models from the runway after several deaths of severely underweight models. (credit:Getty)