Credit:slinkmagazine.com After the success of Vogues' all shapes and sizes' lingerie shoot this month it seems attitudes towards the term, plus-size, are changing. Tapping into that idea, Baum said: "We believe that women are tired of seeing the same unobtainable image. Women today are much more savvy. "As the plus-size retail sector continues to outgrow its straight-size counterpart, the market is crying out for an inspirational plus-sized publication." While plus-size models are more realistic, the question of whether they are healthy has been asked.

Posting to Reddit, one user said, "I believe that plus-size models do not just raise the self-confidence of overweight and obese women/girls, they make them think that it is healthy." In response to similar criticism, Baum said: "We are extremely conscious of our responsibility to promote a healthy body image both physically and mentally. "In our next issue, we are introducing a new healthy eating and fitness column to further back this. But what we are also aware of is that health doesn't come in one dress size and there are numerous factors that play a part in our wellbeing. "While many magazines promote crash diets, which are extremely unhealthy, we believe that empowering women to feel confident and good about themselves at whatever size they are can have knock-on effects on their overall health and lifestyle choices. It's about promoting health and happiness without suggesting it can only be achieved at one dress size." Slink also has a strong Photoshop policy.

"We never Photoshop bodies smaller at all, we will do lighting corrections, light balance that kind of thing," Baum said. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders said almost 70 per cent of girls in grades five to 12 were influenced by magazine pictures. On the other end of the scale, a paper on thinness and obesity said increasing the ideal body weight may worsen the increasing obesity problem. "If people are overweight and on a diet, increasing the ideal body weight can improve overall utility, but it worsens health because it induces people to become even more overweight," researchers wrote. Interestingly, increasing the ideal body weight would increase "welfare" and help remove negative feelings associated with unobtainable images in the media.

Treat Yourself Well clinical psychologist, Louise Adams, M.A.P.S. said she supports the plus-size magazine. "I am absolutely in support of body diversity and a range of body shapes being seen because it's actually quite scary that we never get to see women over a certain size," she said. "I think the more we see of different body shapes, sizes, ages and races, the better." Additionally, Adams said different sized bodies aren't "going to cause people to rush out and aspire to being larger." Behind the scenes of a SLiNK photoshoot: