Is ‘beauty’ a subjective concept? Does beauty have a standard definition? On what grounds is something, or rather, someone tagged as beautiful?

Now, I’m sure many of us would answer this by mentioning characteristics such as fair-skinned, lean, and young. And I wouldn’t blame you for that, because that’s exactly what the movies, the magazines, and the world at large, have been telling us all along.

But, sorry to break it to you… we’re all wrong.

Meet Kelly Shibari – a beautiful 43-year old, half-Asian, and full figured model and adult film actress, who happens to be the first plus-size woman to be featured in the Penthouse – a magazine known for promoting the aforementioned beauty ideals.

Kelly will be seen in the spread titled “The Girl Show” wherein she will be posing with two slender models in a sideshow circus-inspired photo series.

Psst! Tell you a secret? This bold and confident woman was once a victim of bullying.

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMEBER 16: Kelly Shibari, a model in Penthouse magazine poses for a portrait in New York on Wednesday Dec. 16, 2015. (Photo by Damon Dahlen, Huffington Post) *** Local Caption ***

“The beauty standard in Japan at that time was that women were very small and petite and slender and didn’t really have a lot of curves. I was probably a little bit chubbier than most of the girls. I’m half-Irish so I developed early, and so when you’re in sixth grade and you have a C cup, all the kids automatically assume it’s just because you’re fat. And so, I was bullied.”

The then not-so-confident Kelly moved to the US in the year 1989, which is also where she started building up her confidence by having people with similar body shapes around. Then, she went on to become a roadie, a production and art director, and finally a porn-star. The latter was a response to a need for money and also to an emerging demand for plus-size porn stars.

“I looked at the websites and I realized that these were dedicated to plus-size women who were not, like, the butt of a joke. And I was like ‘Well, OK, sounds like fun. I’m kind of a bucket list girl. So I’ll send my pictures in. If they take me, then I’ll do it.’” 

About the Penthouse feature, this is what she had to say:

“Adding a plus-sized girl, which is something they’ve never done before, is kind of a scary thing,” said Shibari. “On one hand, you’re worried about if people are going to be like, ‘Ugh, I’m never going to buy the magazine again.'”

“On the other hand, you’ve got all of the size [acceptance] advocates and the people who are finally coming out of the proverbial closet and saying that they actually do like plus-size men and women, and all of the feminists saying, ‘yes, size acceptance, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.’ I’m sure that people there will be some people who come out of the woodwork who will be like, ‘Oh God, I can’t believe they put a fat girl in the magazine.’ But I think that the way things have been going the past few years, with size acceptance and more plus-sized men and women being in the mainstream spotlight as well as in adult entertainment, I think that the reception will be good.”

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