Is Tess Holliday “Too Fat” To Be On The Cover Of Cosmopolitan?

Plus-sized model Tess Holliday features on the front cover of this month’s edition of Cosmopolitan magazine, and the fitness world is misplacing it’s excrement.

The magazine have been accused of “glorifying obesity” and “sending young women the wrong message about leading a healthy lifestyle”.

So what gives?

My inbox lit up with people asking me to tackle this polarising topic, but I usually avoid any questions which are not directly related to fitness and nutrition.

However, upon seeing some of the online abuse which this lady has been subjected to in recent days, I think it’s time the fitness industry is held accountable for it’s actions.

Firstly, I believe Cosmo have pulled off a stroke of marketing genius here.

Because while everyone and his dog is arguing whether they believe this is right or wrong, the boffins at Cosmopolitan HQ are laughing all the way to the bank.

The controversy surrounding this debate has already made it one of their best-selling issues of all time, and cemented Cosmo’s position as one of the few print magazines who continue to turn a year-on-year profit during the digital era (a feat which is largely becausse of conversation starting tactics like this).

However, it did show a rather nasty side to people.

I found myself feeling a little disappointed in some of my fellow fitness professionals on this one, as I scrolled through several pages of awful insults claiming that Tess Holliday “shouldn’t be on the cover” and that “they’re glorifying being fat as fuck”.

So I have to ask my fellow fitness pros… why?

If Cosmo was a fitness magazine I could see where they’re coming from with the whole “glorifying obesity” thing, but it’s not, it’s a fashion magazine.

Are overweight people not allowed to be in magazines?

Should we hide them away under the stairs like fucking Sloth from The Goonies?

Women are forced to live in a world where they face unrealistic beauty standards and immense pressure to be ‘perfect’ all the time, and I hate that. Heck, only recently with the popularisation of social media are we now also seeing more men than ever before being diagnosed with mental health issues due to this same pressure.

Some of the comments I’ve seen directed at this lady are downright ugly.

So remember, part of your responsibility as a fully-grown adult is to not be a fucking nuclear bell-end.

Further Reading:

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