13 Body Positive Babes You Need To Know About

So what is body positivity? It's a movement that allows women to love their bodies in all of their glorious shapes, sizes and idiosyncrasies. It's a movement that's gaining momentum and filling up our Instagram feeds with hashtags like #EffYourBeautyStandards and #HonorMyCurves. It's a movement that counteracts the body-shaming culture that we live in. It's a movement that celebrates women's achievements, women's style and just women in all their splendor.

I strongly suggest you get on the bandwagon. Why should you feel like sh*t because of the way you look? Just because others might label you “skinny” or “fat” or see other problems with what you've got going on doesn't stop you from being completely healthy and very sexy too. We're just made how we're made. Own what your mama gave you!

There are so many trailblazing body positive babes out there that you need to know about, who are altering the way we think about beauty standards. Here, we can only honor a small number of them. The babes that are paving the way for the rest of us. They're highlighting diversity, showing that they're not embarrassed of who they are and they're giving haters the middle finger.

13 Luisa Omielan

Comedian Luisa Omielan went viral last year with a set discussing all the things women whinge about when it comes to their bodies, in particular the thigh gaps craze. She hilariously points out the universal need to judge one another and the fact that we can't take compliments without putting ourselves down. She doesn't give a crap what others think about her body, grabbing her stomach, she says, “I love this,” and “This means I go out for dinner with friends.” She even dropped her pants and said, “Send me away to the circus, call it freak show b*t*h whose thighs are touching each other.”

12 Sarah Rae Vargas

Vargas is the body positive babe behind the blog Ravings by Rae, which you ought to check out by the way. On the blog she covers lifestyle and fashion for plus women, and she recently did a beautiful lingerie “lookbook” for Valentine's Day. Sarah Rae Vargas also has a popular YouTube channel with over 300,000 subscribers. One of her series' that really focuses on body positivity is Dear Fat Girl in which she responds to her fans' questions and stories, giving them advice and encouragement. Vargas has your back girls.

11 Lena Dunham

Firstly, I have to say that if you don't know who Lena Dunham is, where have you been? She is amazing for so many reasons and although she might be too much of an obvious choice to mention on a list about body positive babes, how could I not mention her on a list about body positive babes? As the creator of the hit show Girls Dunham gave us a new kind of role model, a woman who is confident enough in her body to bare all and to stand up for all kinds of diverse women. Just last year she posted a picture of herself in lingerie to her Instagram and received bucket loads of positive comments about being comfortable with her body.

10 Jamie Brewer

You might recognize Brewer from her role on American Horror Story. But what is she doing on this list? Well, what you may not have known about Jamie Brewer is that she's also a major advocate for people with disabilities. She became an inspiration when she walked in designer Carrie Hammer's New York Fashion Week show. She was the first model with Down's Syndrome to walk in an NYFW show and this marked a major turning point for body positivity.

9 Lea DeLaria

Orange is the New Black actress Lea DeLaria is a proud butch lesbian. She talks about her identity and body positivity in a video for the What's Underneath campaign and it's touching and funny, and just brilliant. She explains what it means to be a “butch” and attempts to break down the stereotypes surrounding that word. It's been a struggle to get to where she is now in accepting her sexuality and identity, but she's there now and awesome with it. DeLaria gradually removes her clothes throughout the video and shows she's happy with herself and fully accepts who she is. She says, “I love me. Look at this. What's not to love?” Yasss!

8 Gabi Gregg

Gregg is a very successful fashion and lifestyle blogger who decided to start a blog which speaks to young, fashionable women sizes 14 and up, GabiFresh. She does a great job in catering to an under-represented audience. Who says you can't have amazing style if you have a plus body? Gabi has been featured on lots of popular media outlets including Good Morning America, Cosmopolitan and Glamour among others. She is seen as somebody who spearheaded the trend of plus size blogging and inspired so many others to start their own fashion blogs.

7 Ariel Winter

You'll know Winter as the actress who plays Alex Dunphy on Modern Family. At just 18-years-old, it's amazing how evolved her outlook on life is. She isn't one to shy away from criticism, on several occasions she has shot down haters on her social media accounts and inspired scores of young women in the process. Most recently she hit back against comments about the fact that her breast reduction surgery scars were visible on the red carpet at the SAG Awards. She said on Twitter, “Guys there is a reason I didn't make an effort to cover up my scars! They are a part of me and I'm not ashamed of them at all. :)”

6 Ashley Graham

Graham is a model and body positivity activist. This year she became the first ever plus size model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition and she looked hot! Graham has spoken out about how honored she feels to be in the position to promote body positivity in this way, “I want to dedicate it to all of the women out there who never felt that they were beautiful enough, who never felt like they were skinny enough, and who never felt like they were going to be able to be represented in society like this,” Graham said. “Because now we're being represented.” Graham epitomizes a societal shift towards a more diverse representation of women's bodies.

5 Laverne Cox

You'll know Laverne Cox for playing Sophia on Orange is the New Black. She is the second actor from OITNB to be featured on this list which just goes to prove how beautifully diverse the show is in representing all women. Cox is also an advocate who regularly highlights trans issues in the media. In 2015 she did a nude photo shoot for fashion magazine Allure, an opportunity she took on for all the right reasons. Speaking to the magazine she said, "Trans women certainly are not told we're beautiful. Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks. There's beauty in the things we think are imperfect. That sounds very cliché, but it's true." So not only is Cox an advocate for transgender people, she's a wonderful advocate for body positivity.

4 Jes Baker

Jes Baker is the woman behind the blog, The Militant Baker, which carries the tag line “Lose the bullsh*t. Love your body.” You have to admit that's an inspiring sentiment put across in just a few words. She's an advocate for body positivity and a self-proclaimed “self-love enthusiast”. The blog is definitely worth a read and isn't at allabout cooking as you might imagine from the name. It's all about body positivity, women's issues, feminist issues and much more. Baker is also a TEDx speaker and has written a book entitled, Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls.

3 Tess Holliday

You need to go to Holliday's Instagram to see the revolutionary plus-size model in action. In one post she addresses the critics who believe she doesn't represent plus size bodies. She says, “I'm literally the ONLY visibly FAT plus size mainstream model” and “my body jiggles when I walk, PROUDLY.” She continues to discuss how she uses her career to bring awareness to the lack of diversity in the media, “I know one day there will be people of all sizes standing next to me, changing the world.” Holliday has already made strides in changing the world for the better. She was the first model above a size 20 to get a contract with a major agency, Milk Management.

2 Thamarr Guerrier

Guerrier is another awesome body positive blogger whose posts you should be reading. On her blog, Musings of a Curvy Lady, she says “I'm a positive body advocate and love to see fashion on all silhouettes.” She's an all around great gal, being a nurse by trade, which she says supports her glamorous habits including shoes, lipstick and champagne. If you're looking for new blogs or Instagram accounts to follow then definitely hit up Musings of a Curvy Lady. Guerrier is one to watch.

1 Lillian Bustle

Bustle killed it with her TEDx talk, Stripping away negative body image. She opens in a way that might shock some saying, “I am fat,” and explains that this isn't her way to fish for compliments or to put herself down. Like others, she uses the word as a descriptor and doesn't shy away from the label as a term that is used to shame women. Bustle describes in her talk how burlesque changed the way she looked at her own body image. She uses it as a way to celebrate her body rather than feeling bad about it, along with other strong women doing the same. She inspires us by teaching us a technique she learned from a fellow burlesque performer that can help us to feel more confident in any circumstance. She says to carry a “courage reference”, a moment in which you were particularly strong (for her this is her strongest moment on stage) and use it to get through any problem whether it's related to the way you look or not. That's good advice!