This documentary says 'boy, bye' to unrealistic beauty standards

Filmmaker Jenny McQuaile and producer and former model Jessica Lewis first introduced Straight/Curve last year. With this upcoming documentary, they plan to help break down the lens through which the fashion industry sees beauty and tackle the way plus-size women are both treated and represented in the mainstream media. McQuaile told us in an interview last September:

The day we see women of all shapes and sizes on the pages of the same magazines, wearing the same designer, and side by side is the day we have achieved our goals.

Since then, Ashley Graham has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and Mattel has introduced a new collection of Barbie dolls with a variety of shapes that actually mirror the little girls playing with them. But there are a lot more battles left to fight.

In a new Straight/Curve trailer, out today, McQuaile and Lewis focus on normalizing bodies of all different shapes and sizes, because the insanely unrealistic beauty standards that women are expected to live up to are detrimental to all of us.

“It is not about plus-size women being better or more positive than straight size women, it should be about inclusivity across the board. This is the most powerful message and one that will rise up the next generation of girls to love their bodies and feel empowered,” McQuaile told Fusion in an email.

Set for an early 2017 release, Straight/Curve features commentary from some of the most prominent names working to promote body positivity today, including Chromat designer Becca McCharen, National Eating Disorders Association CEO Claire Mysko, and plus-size model Candice Huffine.

With Straight/Curve, the filmmakers hope to start a lasting conversation around the damaging targets placed on women’s bodies—making sure that plus-size model walking down the runway or that unretouched billboard ad isn’t just a fad, but a “new normal.”

As McCharen says in the trailer, “When you open beauty ads and see images of all skinny, white women, I want that to be shocking.”

Tahirah Hairston is a style writer from Detroit who likes Susan Miller, Rihanna’s friend’s Instagram accounts, ramen and ugly-but cute shoes.