Why Mindy Kaling — not Lena Dunham — is the body positive icon of the moment

There's something refreshingly real about this sitcom star

The Mindy Project
(Image credit: (Jordin Althaus/FOX))

A not-perfectly-skinny celebrity discussing her not-perfectly-skinny ways is always an occasion for much discussion, even celebration. We unfamous ladies with unfamous, and therefore probably not perfectly skinny, bodies can't help but rejoice when an entertainer who speaks about her relationship to food has a body that actually reflects it. What a marvelous break it is from the all-too-frequent size zeroes gushing about their love of hamburgers and spaghetti carbonara or how chocolate keeps them thin.

We regular women recently experienced this particular delight when not-whippet-thin Mindy Kaling told Vogue (yes that Vogue) that she isn't all that invested in thinness.

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Elissa Strauss

Elissa Strauss writes about the intersection of gender and culture for TheWeek.com. She also writes regularly for Elle.com and the Jewish Daily Forward, where she is a weekly columnist.