Diversity, Congratulations You are Still in the Running to Become America's Next Top Model

In the past 24 seasons of America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks has given a reimagining to the face of commercial and runway models. But recently, in its current season, Tyra Banks has lifted the age limit of 26-years-old and has now made an emphasis on utilizing body positivity and body activism when casting her show. This season features women with different races, sizes, facial structures, and character narratives.
Rio Summers, a mixed race young woman suffered from a head injury resulting in a comatose state. Years ago, a scar on the back of your head would make you unbookable to certain modeling agencies. However, Tyra embraces Rio's struggles and encourages the contestant to use that uniqueness to fuel her modeling career.
Jeanna Turner, another contestant, suffers from aggressive alopecia, an autoimmune disease that attacks ones' hair follicles. Jeanna struggled with her makeup transformation of going bald on live television but Tyra tells her to use it to her advantage and create her own signature "look".
Krhystyana Kazakova is a body positive activist on Instagram. She's struggled with being a plus sized and "full-figured" girl and yet, Tyra also finds the uniqueness in her body.
Finally, Erin, a 45-year-old mother, is also a contestant on the show. Ageism is a very covert microagression in the fashion and modeling world-- as well as the entertainment industry-- that gets overlooked.
I know it doesn't seem like a very hard push for progression, but it's still good to see some of the lessons from class and the content of the TED talk applied to a very long-time, popular show on a network that's so prevalent to today's youth. Tyra Banks, being such an influential name in the beauty industry, is doing such a good job at broadening the scope of what it means to be a model and dismantling a Eurocentric standard of beauty and it shows because people are finally listening!
There has been an increase in body positivity accounts on instagram that promote healthy living and self love. Additionally, she's giving young women of lower socioeconomic classes an opportunity tto break into a very white-bread, upperclass profession.

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