Photographer Carey Fruth has shot a beautiful new series of images, entitled American Beauty, to help promote body positivity for women across a broad spectrum.
Fruth noted that there is currently not enough diversity among women being presented positively. "Images of woman of colour are shown in a stereotypical light," she said, "and images of older woman are few and far between."
"But our world is made up of so many different people who are worthy of representation," she said. "Worthy of respect, worthy of love and self-love."
Inclusivity and “welcoming people of all different body types” are key to the photos. "Too often images of woman of size are shown as disgusting," she told BuzzFeed. "Images of very thin woman are shown as being sick."
"No one should be made to feel that their body is somehow wrong, undesirable. This feeling holds people back."
Fruth told us that she was starting to notice a significant shift towards body inclusiveness.
While the reaction to the series has been generally positive, Fruth said on hearing some negative comments, "I see how far we still have to go."
"There are still so many people who are unhappy with themselves," she added, "and a lot of times I think they project that anger towards people who do love themselves."
Referring to comments made on social media, she said, "It's easy to say hurtful things when you are not face-to-face with someone."
And "the matter is that none of us know each other's stories".
"My hope is that artists and activists will continue to flood the media with their images and articles about body positivity," she said.
She hopes "that over time the mass media will change and it will no longer be rare to see woman of age, of colour, or of different sizes in our magazines, on our television, in our advertisements.
"Only then will the fight be over."