People Accused This Size-6 Model of Fat-Shaming Her Size-16 BFF, but We’re Actually Loving Her

Where it all started ^ We posted this picture online, just as best friends going out on the [...]

By Libby Birk

Where it all started ^ We posted this picture online, just as best friends going out on the weekend, it got reposted a lot and the controversy started.. You have photoshopped yourself thinner or your friend bigger, what kind of friend are you? Was one of the comments, it broke my heart because Kate and I are best friends why would I do that? The fact that a simple picture of two people together went so viral purely because of their body types shocked me... and @any.body_co was created because no one should have to deal with that and it shouldn't even be acknowledged, all I see here is two women.. not one "skinny" woman and one "curvy" woman, stop comparing everyone to each other and accept every person as beautiful in their own right. #loveanyBODY

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When Australian model Georgia Gibbs posted a photo of her with a friend during a night on the town, she says she was taken aback by comments accusing her of Photoshopping herself to look smaller and/or her friend, fellow model Kate Wasley, to look larger.

"It was eye opening how people reacted, being very quick to call the image 'photoshopped' instead of looking at it for what it was — two best friends having fun on a night out," Gibbs, 23, tells PEOPLE.

The photo went viral, but for all the wrong reasons. It was clear to the two women that different types of bodies aren't portrayed enough on social media — so they set out to change that.

Gibbs and Wasley created a body-positive Instagram account, @any.body_co, to help normalize body diversity on social media.

We're on a rooftop, in NY, shooting pictures for a project we absolutely adore.... Someone slap me 😂 It was a whirl wind week never did we think two Perth girls would be here, doing something we love & being able to share our message on UK tv... Again, someone slap me 😂 We are so humbled that our Any BODY squad have embraced the movement and are sharing images of themselves, CONFIDENT, empowered & LOVING their skin 💗 You all inspire us so much every day so thanks for being kick ass, we can't wait to keep sharing this message with you all, together we can kick society's standards aside & show that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, colours! 🙌🏼 #EndBodyShaming #LoveAnyBODY #Empowered 💫 @andrewdaystudio

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"After reading comments and questions from people I know, one of the most common was 'Don't you ever feel self-conscious being the bigger one?' We want to change society's beauty standards that smaller is better, when in reality neither is better than the other," Wasley says to PEOPLE. "We think your health and wellbeing should be the priority."

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In fact, Wasley knows what she's talking about from personal experience. On Instagram, she shared she used to limit her calories to 800 per day because people would remark that she would be prettier if she lost weight, but she says she's much happier now at a heavier weight.

Welcome to my different kind of before and after: before left: after right. And before anyone jumps and tells me I was healthier on the left, here's why I wasn't and here is why I firmly believe that HEALTH COMES IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES. So in high school I was quite over weight, at least 8-10kgs heavier than I am now on the right. I used to get a lot of comments about how I'd be 'hot' if I lost weight and that I had such a pretty face etc. people weren't necessarily mean to my face but the little comments stung as I was only 17 and the way I looked and what people thought of me was still a big deal. So one day after a teacher told me I front of all my friends that I 'probably wasn't as fit as I could be' and the same teacher on a different occasion telling me I was a 'good wind block' for my cold friend, I decided it was time for a change and I was sick of people subtlety making me feel like shit, about my weight. I was never an overly self conscious teenager, subtle comments stung for a little bit and then I'd brush them off because I knew deep down that I was doing nothing for my health by eating pizza every day, drinking a litre of ice coffee and never exercising. Though this behaviour makes me cringe now because I know the effect that behaviour has on your insides, over all I was happy and I didn't really know where to start when it came to weight loss. So onto my weight loss story: I started dieting HARD. I spoke to a few of the girls in my year who I'd look at and think were absolutely STUNNING. Like never in a million years would I think they had to change anything or lose weight, but it's true that we are our own worst critic, maybe because of all the images of the 'one size fits all when it comes to health/beauty ' bs that we are fed every day via the media/social media, but that's for another post ;) So I got what I needed from these girls in my year and a quick google and started my very first diet that was the 'detox' it consisted of something ridiculous like 800 calories and a DISGUSTING juice with every meal that the cheap box and my one google search had convinced me was healthy and give me the body I desired...

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"As we are promoting health over size, I really wanted to believe that your social and emotional health is equally as important as your physical health," she says.

"[Social media] is flooded every day with the 'ideal,' 'flawless' body," Wasley says. "Georgia and I are so passionate about 'keeping it real' that we wanted to flood people's media feeds with a bit of diversity."

[H/T Instagram / @any.body_co]

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