I’ve at all times had a double chin — and while I’ve managed to simply accept the opposite parts of myself that society tells me to not, it’s the roll of fat under my face that has at all times been the sticking point. From seeing Tumblr posts aged 14 wherein popular figures from the social networking site would ask for advice on find out how to eliminate theirs, to seeing ‘gross out’ Insta stories of thin people folding their face into their neck in hopes of making a double chin, the truth is, from the very moment I started to develop a way of self, I’ve been conditioned to think my face shape was unattractive.

Nevertheless, as my teens have rolled into my twenties an entire swath of latest representation for fat women like me has been ushered in. Take La’Shaunae Stewart, for instance, fronting Universal Standards latest campaign. For some, nonetheless, despite all of the increased visibility that the body positivity has rought, the movement has just swapped one set of beauty standards for one more.

Blogger Stephanie Yeboah believes, “the body positive community now not serves its purpose to the ladies who spearheaded it — larger, fat women of color — and as an alternative, chooses to uplift and highlight ‘acceptably-fat’ women.” With curves in all the fitting places, those that are given essentially the most opportunity inside diverse modelling and influencer circles are those who only barely shift our idea of what is gorgeous. And while we’re seeing more plus-size people each on the runway and in campaigns, one element that affects each fat and straight size people has been largely ignored: double chins and fuller faces.

“Fuller faces and double chins are synonymous with extra weight, which we already know is seen as ‘a foul thing’ inside society and the media,” Yeboah explains. Plus size models cropping up in sportswear campaigns may go some option to shatter the illusion that health and weight are usually not mutually exclusive, but so long as beauty campaigns proceed to disregard those that don’t fit into the conventionally attractive mould that has come to define the body positive movement, we’re still pedalling backwards beauty standards.

Bored, frustrated and uninspired by each the dearth of representation for people like myself and the mainstream translation of body positivity as ‘unattractive’ people wearing unflattering, ill-fitting nude underwear in an try and ‘accept our flaws and love ourselves’, an enormous a part of my work inside my zine Polyester has been about creating images that allow marginalised people the chance to see themselves within the idealised way that skinny, cis, white and able-bodied persons are afforded every single day. For our eighth and most up-to-date issue, photographer Jender Anomie shot a series of femmes with fuller faces made as much as the nines, painted with ‘80s airbrush inspired make-up and dripping in market stall diamante jewellery. Entitled ‘Double Trouble’ I desired to glamourise areas of the fat experience which can be still so often used to ridicule and belittle plus size people. Starring within the shoot was Chloe Sheppard, a photographer whose work goals to romanticise her own experience with fatness. “Double chins are actually the very last thing omitted of our ‘flaws’ that hasn’t been celebrated yet,” she says. Appearing in front of the camera, Sheppard says her face shape is the a part of herself she feels most ashamed of. “Shoots like this are necessary since it’s something that so, so many individuals have — even individuals who aren’t chubby — and yet it’s seen as so unconventional and unattractive still,” she explains. “The shortage of representation makes individuals with them feel horrible.”

With the peerlessly angled selfie, it’s easy to disguise any resemblance of a double chin. Even a number of the most body positive of influencers will manipulate their angles to be able to create the illusion of a wonderfully chiselled jawline. With the usage of apps, it’s never been easier to clean away the parts of ourselves we don’t like from the convenience of our touch screens. Katie Edgington, a 22-year-old photographer says she’s been using apps to change her face shape since she was 17. “It’s nearly not possible for me to take a selfie with no filter or where the underside half of my face isn’t obscured,” she says. “I’ve been exposed to fashion imagery each day where it’s obvious that even ‘body positive’ culture only publicly celebrates plus-size models who’ve an outlined jawline, which subsequently equates having a slim face with sexiness and attractiveness.”

London based Jemima, who works in skincare, believes consistently manipulating her face shape in selfies has only emphasised her body confidence issues. “I wish I had IRL Facetune,” she says. “I feel like my double chin doesn’t match my otherwise unparalleled beauty.” While Sheppard doesn’t edit her jawline, she says the Polyester editorial was a change in direction towards how she normally represents herself. “It was so nice for a change to be photographed knowing that my double chin was the purpose of the shoot, and never something that I’d must tactfully attempt to hide like I do more often than not, especially after I’m taking photographs of myself.”

Without representation of each iteration of the fat experience, body positivity fails. Until larger people are usually not only accepted but celebrated for representing themselves in a way that glorifies their existence, our beauty ideals will remain as narrow as they’ve ever been.