As reported by Huffington Post, psychology professor Alexandra Corning and her research team at Notre Dame’s Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab asked 139 undergraduates with average BMIs to look at photos of women of various weights captioned with both negative and positive statements from the women themselves about their bodies. The participants viewed eight photos each, including every possible combination of body size and positive or negative statement.

The findings indicated that participants “liked” the women who said positive things about their own bodies more than those who engaged in “fat talk,” and positive overweight women were liked most of all.

The researchers concluded that the undergrads preferred the overweight women who made positive statements because a larger woman expressing satisfaction with her appearance may be less threatening than a thin woman expressing confidence. They also decided that seeing larger women being positive about their bodies “may encourage others to accept their own bodies as well.”

The HuffPost article also cited a 2011 study led by Rachel Salk involving a similar number of students, which demonstrated that women also engage in fat talk in order to be reassured of the opposite by friends, but are not usually comforted by friends’ responses. “In Western cultures,” the study reads, “women’s dissatisfaction with the size and shape of their bodies is so common that it has been termed ‘normative discontent.’”  This study also concluded that women may express body dissatisfaction not only because that is how they feel, but because they think it is how they should feel about themselves. In other words, society expects women to feel bad about their bodies. (Interestingly, though Salk feels that fat talk diminishes with age, a 2013 study found that women replace fat talk with old talk, or negative comments about their increasing age.)

Ultimately, Corning’s study refutes Salk’s study’s conclusion that fat talk bonds women together, and feels that her findings are important “because they raise awareness about how women actually are being perceived when they engage in this self-abasing kind of talk.”

So there’s now scientific research to support the downside of voicing negativity about ourselves aloud. Now we all need to work on silencing that negative inner voice—easier said than done– that whispers only to us…

What do you think about these studies?

We don’t want to reveal too much, but here are just a few tantalising photos [courtesy of our intern, Anne] with more to come…(can’t promise too many more of Frida though– she’s expensive and very choosy about how her image is used!).

In fact, says Runk, some women have confessed that her photos have “inspired them to try on a bikini for the first time in years. This is exactly the kind of thing I’ve always wanted to accomplish, showing women that it’s OK to be confident even if you’re not the popular notion of ‘perfect’.”

Runk has decided to use the attention she has received “as an opportunity to make the world a little nicer by promoting confidence.” She especially hopes to reach out to teenage girls as she had an awkward adolescence and feels it is a difficult period to navigate. “When our bodies change and we all start to look totally different, we simultaneously begin feeling pressured to look exactly the same,” says Runk. “This is an impossible goal to achieve and I wish I had known that when I was 13.”

Having finally survived her teenage years, “I feel compelled to show girls who are going through the same thing that it’s acceptable to be different,” Runk explains. “You will grow out of this awkwardness fabulously. Just focus on being the best possible version of yourself and quit worrying about your thighs, there’s nothing wrong with them. … After all, I never thought of myself as model material but then I was discovered at a Petsmart, while volunteering in my too-short sweat pants no less.”

Runk acknowledges that “there are also negative connotations associated with thinness. Just as bigger women get called fat or chunky, thin women get called gangly or bony. …There’s no need to glamorise one body type and slam another,” she says. “We need to stop this absurd hatred towards bodies for being different sizes. It doesn’t help anyone.”

When she was first discovered, Runk was given the option to lose weight and try to maintain a US size four (a UK six or eight), or to gain a little to be a US size 10 (a UK 12 or 14) – and start a career as a plus-size model. Since she knew her body was never meant to be a size four, she decided to go with plus modelling.

The self-professed “quiet type who reads books, plays video games, and might be a little too obsessed with her cat” seems to be doing pretty well so far!

Read Runk’s full self-penned article from BBC New Magazine.

“[W]e feel the time has come to reward outstanding service and inspirational people,” says the event’s website. “We want to recognise those who have broken barriers in the plus size industry, an industry that is being utilised by more and more people.”

HURRY: Click here to enter your nominations — the poll closes at midday on May 31st, 2013.

The awards ceremony will take place on 23rd November 2013 at the Grand Connaught Rooms in Central London and will be in conjunction with the Miss Plus Size International 2013 beauty pageant.

Inside, Kate talks about some of the difficulties she’s faced in the modelling industry as a curvier model. “The things that they’re rejecting are things that I can’t change,” she tells interviewer Lizzie Widdicombe. “I can’t change my bra size. They’re natural! I can work out and I can stay healthy and motivated, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body. It’s what God gave me! I feel confident with myself, and if that inspires other women to feel confident with their bodies, great.”

Read the full interview and see more photos at Vogue.com

#MakeMeaModels1Curvy entrants

“Women of every size are getting more confident,” Baum said to Huffington Post UK. “They want to flaunt their curves rather than strive for a single body shape.” She also believes that the opportunities for a successful career as a plus model are getting better and better. “Curvy models are booking bigger and better campaigns all the time,” says Baum.

#MakeMeaModels1Curvy entrants

The competition has been deliberately run through social media. Entrants must upload a ’selfie’ to Instagram using the hashtag #MakeMeaModels1Curvy. “It can be really intimidating to go into an agency,” Baum told HuffPost UK. “This comp allowed women to take their shots in their own time and environment, and be comfortable.”

“Wedding season is fast approaching, and I know it’s a time that many plus size women dread. Finding clothes appropriate for formal occasions without resorting to florals is difficult – not everyone wants to wear massive blooms all Summer long, and for every nice floral there are twenty frumpy, old-fashioned ones… . If you prefer simple shapes, block colours and a touch of texture,” this is the go-to occasionwear dress for you.

They love the sizzling coral color, and suggest adding your own belt if you want to nip in the dress’s easy tunic shape.

This video is a great antidote to the controversial comments of Samantha Brick, the writer who recently caused a stir by claiming that any woman who wants to be happy needs to be on a constant diet. Brick also recently appeared on “This Morning,” sparring with positive body image campaigner Natasha Devon.