Hilda

A few days ago, I saw a post on Metafilter, a website I sometimes visit. The post was about a pin-up girl created in the 1950's by artist Duane Byers. The character he created is named Hilda (some images slightly NSFW), and in his paintings, she is depicted as playful, goofy, and very curvy. What struck me when I saw his paintings is how rare it is to see women with bodies like mine depicted as happy, healthy, and sexy. In fact, I can't ever remember seeing "sexy" drawings of a woman with a body like Hilda's (and mine). In many of the drawings of Hilda, she is doing active things- swinging on a rope swing, hanging upside down from a tree, riding her bicycle, etc. Her arms and legs are strong and muscular looking, but also round and curvy. When she is sitting down, she has creases in her stomach and folds on her back just like I do.  She seems happy and comfortable with herself and isn't shy about showing off her body. I wish that I had seen these drawings when I was twelve or thirteen, so that as my body developed, I could have seen that it is possible to be shaped like me and beautiful because of it rather than in spite of it. Hilda is a real beauty, and every time I see her, she inspires to me to appreciate my body just as it is.