Despite her status as one of the world’s most beautiful and best known ‘plus-size’ models, Robyn Lawley has come out in defense of her skinnier counterparts.

Models Direct writers read Lawley’s comments over the weekend after she spoke to the Guardian about her experiences and opinions on modelling. What the 24-year-old (UK size 16) model said was rather refreshing.

Lawley believes, like Models Direct, that models should come in all shapes and sizes. And she also points out that criticising someone’s weight is hurtful no matter what their size:

“People use me as a figurehead, and to me that misses the point and is blatantly offensive to thin women – my sister, for one. Curves don’t epitomise a woman. Saying, ‘Skinny is ugly’ should be no more acceptable than saying fat is.

“I find all this stuff a very controlling and effective way of making women obsess over their weight, instead of exploiting their more important attributes, such as intellect, strength and power.

“We could be getting angry about unequal pay and unequal opportunities, but we’re too busy being told we’re not thin enough or curvy enough. We’re holding ourselves back.”

Lawley insists that the issue isn’t just that there are too many slimmer models but that there is so little diversity in the modelling industry in general – in terms of size, but also age and race:

“Look at fashion shows. We need a range of ages and ethnicities. There are just very thin, white, 16-year-old girls on the catwalk and that has to change.”

Her advice to parents of young women trying to ensure that their daughter will be able to grow up with confidence whatever her shape and size?

“Don’t use the words fat, skinny or diet. Tell your daughter constantly that you love her body the way it is.”