Social media influencer Lyla King has been battling bullies and beauty standards all her life. The fight began when she was in the seventh grade, and her breasts grew dramatically. She was bullied that year because many of her classmates thought she was stuffing her bra.
“I went from an A cup to a C cup when I was 11 in 7th grade,” Lyla says. “By ninth grade, I couldn’t buy bras from the trendy fashion stores anymore because I became an E cup. I’m now a P cup.”
Lyla King’s rise to fame is not just about her viral TikTok success but also her powerful embrace of body positivity. Using her platform, she has turned her experiences into a movement that encourages self-love and acceptance, no matter what size a person is.
Societal beauty standards these days call for women to be impossibly thin and waiflike. Anyone deviating from that unrealistic and contrived norm is shamed for being too fat. Women are encouraged to go on harmful diets to reach this artificial ideal. Most recommended diets have no proof that they even work and no scientific backing.
Science does show, however, that most diets only accomplish yo-yo weight loss, meaning that people lose some weight but end up gaining it all back. In the process, they lose muscle mass which is replaced by fat cells. Research also shows that the yo-yo process leads to such health dangers as an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Lyla didn’t set out to be a role model and influencer. She had worked in housekeeping for a hospital until a disability made her unable to do the job. The medical diagnosis for her problem is a functional neurologic disorder, a brain issue that causes physical symptoms like numbness, seizures, and temporary paralysis.
“I used my hands for work. But I would be doing something, and suddenly, I would drop what I was doing because I couldn’t feel anymore. My hands and fingers had gone numb,” Lyla explains. “So, being a stay-at-home mom was the only life for me. I mean, I had to choose it since I couldn’t rely on my hands to make a living anymore. And I took the opportunity because it looked like a brighter future than anything else.”
Lyla and her family ended up living in subsidized housing. Since she couldn’t work at a regular, daily job because of her irregular disability, she tried making videos on social media. One morning, she woke up to find that literally overnight, she had become an online success, amassing nearly 300,000 views when one of her videos went viral.
In the videos, Lyla embraces her curves. Her confidence in front of the camera encourages her followers to do the same. Early experience as a dancer helped her learn to be comfortable in her own skin, as well as with the voluptuous body she was given. Her body-positive mindset enabled her to excel in this new venture.
The rise to fame wasn’t easy, though. Lyla’s family initially criticized her for making tasteful videos about her body for a living. They eventually reconciled once they recognized Lyla’s hard work and the important message of acceptance she was putting out in the world. They also approved of the money she was able to invest in her children’s education, healthcare, and extracurricular activities, as well as in their futures.
In a recent social media post, a video shows Lyla looking confident while “You’d be prettier if you lost weight,” is written on the screen – a common criticism she and other women hear. Lyla looks into the camera and uses her fingers to make the motion of the world’s smallest violin playing in mock sympathy. Meanwhile, a written comment from her says, “I’m happy, healthy, and comfortable in my own skin.”
Now, Lyla has joined SuicideGirls, a group of women promoting body positivity on a website with the same name. They’re called SuicideGirls because they are considered to be committing social suicide by celebrating their unconventional beauty. These beautiful women have multiple tattoos, hair in various colors and cuts, curvy bodies, and other factors not traditionally considered valuable by current societal norms. They don’t care, and neither do their subscribers.
She goes by Lylasbigheart on SuicideGirls and Instagram, partly for her compassion for other women who don’t fit conventional beauty standards and for her followers and subscribers. Lyla leverages her platform to inspire others to celebrate their bodies despite the disapproval they feel all around them. Her powerful embrace of genuine body positivity inspires women everywhere.
