Short. Tall. Fat. Skinny. Young. Old. White. Black.

These are just eight words of thousands that are supposed to define who we are.

Across the world, young girls look at photoshopped images of models all with the same long, thin figures and ask themselves why their bodies don’t look like that. After all, that’s how women are “supposed” to look.

Coming from a tall girl who gets asked if I model just about every time I go out in public, that expectation is wrong. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t model conventionally because I would be considered plus-sized by most designers. No one should feel like they have to look a certain way because that’s how the girl on the cover of Vogue looks.

In an attempt to retaliate against the fashion industry’s canonization of tall, skinny women, there have been dozens of campaigns that call those models unnatural because real women aren’t tall and skinny. Real women are supposed to have curves, not be rail-thin, they say.

And that’s wrong too.

The saying that “real women” should be displayed on magazine covers or on runways succeeds only in objectifying the women who are already there.

Beauty is confidence in yourself, not disdain for others.

No, models used by the mass media don’t accurately represent the rest of the population. Only five percent of American women naturally have bodies presented as “ideal” by the media. The average American woman is 5’4” and 140 lbs; the average American model is 5’11 and weighs 117 lbs. Obviously, those women are a far cry from the norm.

But they’re still women. Real, living women. Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, Miranda Kerr and Kate Moss probably wake up every morning with crust in their eyes and drool on their pillows. They probably pick their noses. They likely apply mascara with their mouths wide open like every girl does.

They deal with the same insecurities as the rest of us — arguably even to a greater degree, since their livelihood depends entirely on how they look. Models often starve themselves on a diet of coffee and cigarettes to look skinny enough for their next gig.

No one should have to feel like they need to do that to themselves to be accepted. It isn’t their fault that moguls in the fashion industry believe clothes only look good when the people wearing them won’t even eat a bowl of Froot Loops for fear of gaining weight. What do they care? After all, to them, models are just glorified, dolled-up clothes hangers.

Even worse, for some bizarre reason, some tall and beautiful women still aren’t good enough. Robyn Lawley is a 6’2” plus-sized model from Australia. The weird part? She’s a size 12 — perfectly normal for someone her height. Agencies turned her down, calling her healthy figure too fat. If Lawley, a stunning and successful woman is considered plus-sized at size 12, what are other women supposed to think of themselves? It is ridiculous.

Many images we see of “perfect” women are photoshopped. The women pictured on magazines and the Internet don’t actually look like that. What we’re shown is the product of hours of prepping with makeup, specific camera angles, and meticulous image editing.

The industry is all sorts of screwed up, and there’s not much we can do about it. Despite magazines like Verily, which doesn’t photoshop any of its models and encourages women to be confident in themselves, there are plenty of companies launching body image campaigns not to promote self-confidence, but to make money and get good press for being a progressive company.

All women are flawed, in one way or another, even with Photoshop. And that’s what makes us unique. Perfection isn’t real, but beauty is, and there’s something beautiful about everyone.

We are so much more than tall or short, fat or skinny, young or old, white or black. As soon as we all recognize that, girls across the world can stop starving themselves to fit an unrealistic ideal and women of all shapes and sizes can feel confident with their bodies.

Emily Jenks is the Opinion Editor at The State News. Reach her at ejenks@statenews.com.