Ashley Graham Opens Up About Finding Her Voice: 'I Get to Tell People What I Think of My Body'

Ashley Graham is on the cover of Allure‘s July 2019 issue, out on newsstands on July 25.

Here’s what the 31-year-old American model had to say…

On finding her voice: “My body has always been treated as a thing and not mine. You’re the sexy girl. You’re the naked girl. Men are going to idolize your hourglass figure. It was always about what others thought about my body, until I gained a voice. Now I get to tell people what I think of my body.”

On embracing her power to be heard: “Women are actually paid more than the male models. I don’t know if there’s any other industry where women get paid more…. Now, as a model, you have a voice; you have a brain; they want to hear what your platform is and what you stand for.”

On tokenism vs. inclusion in changing the face of beauty: “The biggest thing that we have to conquer is diversity and inclusion. You can’t just check the box and be like, ‘Oh, we did it.’…. I have never looked at tokenism as a bad thing, as long as the brand, the client — whoever has the mission — continues to branch out and say, ‘This was our first time; next time we’re going to add more of the race, the gender, the sexuality, the religion, the disability,’ whatever it is.”

For more from Ashley, head to Allure.com.