Body-Positive Pool Parties—Like the One in ‘Shrill’—Really Exist

Shrill's Fat Babe Pool Party is arguably the first time the type of work the Drifter, Golden, and Torrid are doing has been represented in pop culture. This kind of exposure is important and will hopefully move the dial forward. “Women who wear our sizes 10 to 30 represent around 80 percent of the population in the U.S.,” Stanley says. (According to Racked, 68 percent of women wear a size 14 or above.) “Why wouldn’t you want to represent reality in mainstream media? These are beautiful women who deserve to be recognized and represented.”

Golden cried tears of joy when she watched the Shrill pool party episode. “That episode truly captured what my pool parties are like,” she says. Golden was so moved, in fact, that she reached out to Shrill's creator, Lindy West, and told her how important the episode was to her. And get this: She says West responded by saying Golden was one of the inspirations for the sequence.

“I didn’t think something as simple as a pool party would have the impact that it has had. Seeing yourself represented in a positive way in the media is so important" Golden says. "Plus-size women deserve to see themselves represented how they see their everyday lives, in the media."

As for the future of media, Golden wants to see models above a size 18 used in more fashion and beauty campaigns, with women of color front and center. “Many brands go up to a size 24 and yet we aren’t seeing that size advertised in a campaign,” she says. She cites Lane Bryant, Roamans, Premme, Universal Standard, and Rebdolls (which she collaborated with) as brands that are getting right—and making money. “A size 20+ can sell," she says.

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Torrid has the same hopes, with acceptance of all body types ranking number one among the things they’d love to see more of in culture. “We are passionate about helping women look and feel confident about who they are and not somebody society says they should be,” Stanley says. “We are a diverse company led by women of all shapes and sizes who fervently believe the mission is to support one another and, most importantly, support those women we serve.”

Shrill has a similar mission. The show's entire first season presents Annie, an unapologetically plus-size woman, living her best life: She has sex, she wears cute clothes, she's a total badass. Not only do we need more women like Annie onscreen; we need more of Annie, full stop. Fingers crossed Shrill gets picked up for a second season—and if it does, I hope to see another Fat Babe Pool Party.

Faith Cummings is a journalist who covers celebrity culture, fashion, and beauty. Follow her on Twitter at @fcummings.