Feb 11
17
When I wrote the original “Strong is the New Skinny” post this past summer, I was talking about challenging womens’ stereotypes. In particular, I was suggesting that women who want to model and define THEIR OWN ideal body use the internet, Facebook and social media to take their look and their portfolio straight out into the world and bypass the gatekeepers and standard-makers. We live in a VERY different world than even 5 years ago and there’s nothing stopping us from tearing down outdated ideals and the big, bloated power structures that keep them alive and – worse – profit from them.
Making it happen…
A few weeks ago, I found out about Kristi King. Of course, I found out about her on our Facebook page and not on TV or in a printed magazine. 
Kristi is a prefect example of what I was talking about when I was inspired to write the original SINS post – a muscular woman using the freedom and leverage the online world has made possible to challenge stereotypes and pose a SERIOUS challenge to the status quo.
Kristi entered – and is already kicking serious ass – in the Sports Illustrated New Model Search!
I talked to Kristi recently and got more insight into her motivation. Kristi said: “As a former fashion model, I want to change the perception of skinny being attractive. I truly believe “Strong is the New Skinny.”
She went on to say: “I have always felt conflicted between fit and skinny. When I modeled for fashion I was always criticized for gaining muscle tone from playing sports. When I played sports, I always felt guilt for not being thin enough and being too fit for fashion modeling.”
Making Strong the New Skinny
And, Kristi has goals that involve influencing future generations of women too: “Joining this contest is a great stepping stone to fulfill my ultimate goal which is to inspire and motivate young girls to believe in themselves, not be afraid of failure, go for their dreams and really understand the importance of having goals. I want to create and run programs that help young girls to have a healthy body image and live a happy, active and balanced lifestyle.”
And, as always, Kristi had her share of negativity and small thinking to ignore and overcome when it came to going after what she wanted and what she believed in: “Before signing up for the contest I had people tell me I was too muscular for Sports Illustrated and maybe I should look into other contests for fitness models. It upset me that people would have the nerve to tell me I can’t do something. That made me all the more determined. Young girls need positive role models who are REAL and healthy – not people who are unrealistic and unhealthy.”
Let’s Give Kristi All the Support We Can!
What’s really cool about this whole thing is that YOU can make sure Kristi WINS and spreads the SINS message! Sports Illustrated has a website set up where WE CAN VOTE for the New Model Search Winner! This is Social Media in action – it’s not up to a few SI Executives who wins – it’s up to YOU. I think that rocks!
Let’s show the whole f’ing WORLD that Strong is the New Skinny! You can vote for Kristi here until April 30, 2011 and you can vote about every 10min or so, so if you happen to be around a computer a lot… 
Here’s the link. LET’S DO IT! http://www.sinewmodelsearch.co.za/model/?model_id=248#gallery
ttys
Adam
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