Students in Watson and Reavis Hall may have noticed an unusual advertisement this week.

“Voluptuous women needed... for student photography project (no worries, no nudity),” said an advertisement posted by NIU communication graduate student Kristin Lou Herout.

“I’m doing a photography project replicating ads from Cosmopolitan, Elle and women’s fashion magazines using curvy, realistic women,” Herout said.
Herout’s ad stated “if you’re in your 20’s, got real booty, boobs or hips, please help me out!”

The photography project is a supplement to a scholarly paper she is writing, and Herout said the project - expected to require as many as 30 models - relates to much of what she has studied in her graduate work. She aims to create a view in society that larger women can be sexy or anything they wish to be.

“It’s okay to not be the unattainable women in magazine ads,” she said. Herout said photographs used in magazine advertisements are often heavily altered in ways which include making already-thin models appear impossibly thin.

Despite the language she used in her advertisement, Herout considered the possible negative feedback she could receive.

“I don’t want people thinking I’m a dirty old man looking to take pictures,” she said.

All of the models featured in the project will be able to keep digital copies of their photographs for their portfolios. Herout’s contact information is posted in Watson and Reavis halls.

Editor's note: Kristen Lou Herout is a former Northern Star photographer.

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