I don't usually watch this show ... Really.

I'm not usually a channel-surfer, I definitely don't watch Tyra Banks' talk show, but last night I found myself hooked by the show's introduction.

No, it wasn't because Tyra was standing there delivering her monologue in a bathing suit (though she was), it was because of the topic that Tyra was talking about.

If you've been watching the entertainment headlines lately, you may have seen pictures or heard about the "fat" photos of Tyra Banks. I personally could care less, but it brought to the front of her show a wonderful topic about the image that women are expected to portray in order to be considered "sexy" or "attractive".

I read an article in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times at the beginning of January talking about how size "0" wasn't "small enough" for some women and how terrible this issue is. The issue at hand is how women keep trying to fit into smaller sizes because that's what "fashion" says is "in"

O.K. So this all ties together in the fact that I'm so excited to finally see a television program that is being real about telling people that it's o.k. to have a "normal" body. I agree that Americans are in general a bit overweight (I am a perfect example of that) and that we should aim to be healthier, but I also think that media images of rail-thin models are unreal and damaging to all of us.

It frustrates me that I try on clothing that is supposed to be an "XL" and it doesn't fit over my shoulders. As I noted earlier, I'm bigger than I could be, but on the scale of size, I shouldn't be too big for an XL. Ironically, I try on other clothes and a "Large" fits just fine. I guess this is a whole other issue about fashion and trying to make people "feel better" about themselves. But this gets at the real problem: that we aim to find our value in the clothes we wear when we should find our value in whose we are.

I was pleased to hear Tyra comment in her monlogue that she is "strong enough" and has a "good support system" so that she can "overcome these attacks". It is my hope and prayer that we can all be a support system to each other, to remind each other that we are created in God's image, and that when God created us God said, "it is good" (Genesis 1)