Real World’s Yasmin Explains Why She Got Totally Naked And Totally Vulnerable: Interview

One lesson The Real World has taught us across 33 seasons on MTV? Clothing is usually optional. Whether the show followed Ruthie hopping into her Hawaiian house’s pool stark naked in Season 8 or Aneesa strolling around her Chicago loft without a stitch of clothing in Season 11, the series’ dress code has remained — year right after year — pretty lax.


Still, any time 27-year-old artist and model Yasmin stripped down to nothing on the latest episode of the show’s Atlanta installment, it meant a little something different. Soon after finding herself fed up with her roommates’ fixation on physical flaws, Yasmin sidled up to a camera in the confessional, slowly peeled off her shirt, pants and underwear and cast light on the fat deposits that had collected around her hips, the hair on her arms that her mother used to wax off and the jiggle in her arms that swung once her wingspan was completely extended.


plus it was a pretty thing.


Yasmin, who’s spent nearly a lifetime advocating for social justice, has no doubt become the series’ most recognizable pioneer for ladies working through body image issues. And in Episode 8, she went as far as to share her experiences at a body-positive panel, where she explained that — while she’s habitually felt inclined to fight for justice — an abusive relationship also cracked her armor in ways that some days seem resistant to fixing. Speedily, she noticed herself completely exposed, although liberation, she slowly realized, was a place she was happy to find herself.





Still, for all of the places she’s ready to go, Yasmin told MTV News she’ll never accept any positioning atop a pedestal. For her relentless canvassing for Middle Eastern girls, queer ladies and those who don’t look like magazine cover features, there really are days as soon as she — just like any other person — needs to be alone, lick her wounds and simply sit with her insecurities. Yet that’s OK, because learning to performer name the occasional step backward, she mentioned, is the only way you could ever take two forward.


Check out Yasmin’s chat with MTV News below, visit http://www.Halfofus.Com/situation/body-image-issues/ for added resources to address body image issues and keep tuning in to The Real World on Facebook Watch!


You said on the show that your upbringing came with rigid expectations from your parents, nevertheless what were you like as a kid?


I was really outgoing, really vocal. I was habitually getting into trouble in class for being super social and saying whichever I wanted. I thought I was a f***ing Spice Girl and I was wearing wigs and cheetah print and snakeskin and I wanted to express myself in any way possible.


Do you remember once the idea of justice became apparent to you?


Yeah! I remember being in elementary school with primarily white kids, and I would visualize how some kids should make fun of other ones, and me also. So I would get really, really angry and confused, like: Why is the food I’m consuming food wrong? Having hair on my arms is different from you, however why is that bad? And I remember immediately after September 11th, I was in fifth or sixth grade, this boy who was not even Muslim — he was Indian — people began saying that his parents were terrorists. And I didn’t relate to my dad being Muslim at the time, yet I freaked out and was yelling at them. Right now that I look back at it I’m like: Wait, how did I even understand that these kids making fun of this kid was a very wrong thing? However I was habitually standing up to the bullies.


So once did that sense of justice translate to your body and what your body means in a social context?


My mom should make me wax my arms, my mustache, my eyebrows. It would hurt so bad, so then she began bleaching them. I was like, nine, and I was like: I don’t desire to do this anymore. And she was like: You’re not going to find a spouse. This is so ugly.


Oh, also, I remember one time, in third grade, I was wearing the same exact shirt — it looked like a white tank top that mentioned “Angel” on it — as my classmate I had to go house and change because I was fatter than the other girl. [School administrators] were like: Your clothes are also tight on you also it looks also sexual. And I was just a child, just a fat little girl. And ever since then, these moments just became ingrained in me.


Would mention that’s any time as soon as you became the fearlessly secure person we visualize on The Real World?


I don’t think I’m fearlessly secure. Yet beginning at those points, yeah, I began to learn not to live my life for other people. People should not be making choices for other people. It’s more about that than having security or confidence. If we’re talking about confidence, only right now am I truly becoming confident, although I’ve been like naked for my whole life. Yet I also don’t think nudity translates to confidence, it translates more to courage.


So I was planning to ask this a little bit later, however considering your say, what inspired you to get completely naked in the confessional on Episode 8? That was such a seminal reality TV moment.


I got really pissed off because daily Tovah would mention she was fat any time whenever she had like the most brilliant body in the home, she had abs. So her saying she was feeling fat was making Meagan and Arely feel like they’re fat, because needless to say they’re larger than Tovah. So at one point I knew I was gaining weight in the residence — and I was already the hugest girl in the home — so if you’re saying you’re fat, what are you saying about me? It was triggering, because my companions from residence don’t talk about ourselves at all like that. I hadn’t been around people like [my Real World roommates] in a really long time. I got fed up — I felt like sh**, and I generally don’t feel like sh** about myself. So I had a point in mind I wanted to create.


Do you feel like you made that point, and is that the impression you hope they got?


Yeah, I do. Meagan messaged me as soon as the preview came out, and she was like: Oh, my gosh. If I talk about being insecure about my body I never aspire to create you feel that way — you have a usual body with curves. And I was like: Meagan, I know. It’s OK, I get it.


Speaking of Meagan, we’ve seen you guide her through a lot of her own insecurities with her body. Do you know she understands however what’s at the root of these anxieties?


No, I really attempted to get to the root of it, nevertheless I’m not sure that she can understand the complexities of trauma to think about how deep-seated it is. Like, I attempted to ask her very probing questions about her childhood, however we both couldn’t figure it out.


Yeah, it sort of seems like It’s two steps forward, one step back. How can people — girls, more specifically — cope with that kind of emotional fluctuating?


I mean, it’s common, because you feel different day-to-day, know? In case you drank alcoholic beverages, or in the event you ate some food that your body didn’t like, or in case you aren’t physically mobile, or perhaps if it’s raining outdoors, there really are so several factors that feed into our mood and our stability that I’ve learned to take it one day at a time. I don’t have this extreme expectation of me to be my proudest self all of the time, because I don’t feel that way.


And for ladies, our weight and our body size, to be truthful, can be a large hurdle. It’s shoved down our throats on a day-to-day basis. It’s on media for the entire day — commercials, billboard, porn. Seriously! In case you aspire to be real about it, it began with porn.


My partner’s a photographer, and he photos the most pretty, skinny models ever, and some days I’m like: Oh, my God, what the f***? I’m ugly and fat. Yet other days, I’m like: I’m a badass bitch, and he may wish to f*** that girl, nevertheless also, look at me, I’m amazing. in the event you habitually put that high expectation on yourself you’ll only disappoint yourself.


You said that it wasn’t you, yourself, yet other people who put the label of “activist” or “body-positive pioneer” on you, and that that came with huge expectation. Does that get tiring to live up to?


It’s just interesting that me being myself becomes this category. I’m just living each day doing what I want, not wearing a bra, or wearing shorts that are also short. And some days I feel pressure put on me, especially since the show came out. And I’m sincerely grateful that me being myself can support other people, nevertheless also, I am not to be put on a pedestal. Nobody is. We should not be comparing ourselves to anyone. Nobody in this world is better than anyone else.


I loved a couple of episodes back as soon as you mentioned this season wouldn’t be about racial tension or sexual tension, yet it would boil down to a separation between bigger people and smaller people. While you walked in the home for the initial time and seen a bunch of other people who weren’t stick-thin, was that exhilarating to you?


Yeah, it’s TV, typically they’re gonna cast some hot-ass people and drunk ladies and whichever the f***. So Once I saw [my roommates], I was like: Look, it’s a bunch of regular people! We’re not cast to be some weird especially hot categorize of people! That really made me feel a lot better.


Did you determine to do the show specifically to bring your activism to light and to the public?


Any time making the choice to be on the show, I knew I was going in with the intention to create a change and bring attention to things that are critical — the only reason that I was on the show was to bring representation to Middle Eastern people and queer Middle Eastern people. That’s why I was there. There’s not a lot of representation of Middle Eastern people in media at all, and if there really is, it’s generally a stereotypical Muslim person. Yet there really are complexities to every identity. I wouldn’t have gone if I just thought it was to have fun. I had already developed an identity plus a following before the show, so it’s not necessarily something that I needed, I thought it was more something I should be doing to reach people like myself.


I thought it was interesting that before you discussed at the body-positive panel in this episode, you called yourself a fraud. Why?


Well, I was coming into this place to talk about self-love and confidence knowing that I’m not the most confident person. There really are probably several people who look different than I do and are more confident. I just felt like I had to live up to something, and it also was in the residence that I started to realize I wasn’t as confident as people tell me I am, and it’s OK to realize and admit that.


We only seen a brief snapshot of your time at the panel — can you tell us more about it and why you were feeling?


I was really, really nervous because it was body-positive panel as well as a lot of the girls were plus. And me, I’m a plus-sized model, which is f***ed up because what does an average or plus body even mean? Like average woman In the
U.S. Is a Size 14 and I’m only a Size 10. I didn’t wish to offend anyone. Nevertheless Once I got there I realized each person was so loving and the space was so accepting. It was not what I assumed it could be, it was great energy.


At the panel, your roommates seemed taken aback once you said that an abusive relationship was the catalyst to some of your insecurities. Is sharing those types of intimate, some days uncomfortable specifics the key to finding regular ground?


in case you take into consideration that we all share similar experiences without the same personalized stories, necessarily, that is something that can bring communities with each other. It creates diversity. If each person is silent about their abuse or addiction problems or whichever, then we’re gonna feel like we’re the only ones feeling the way we do. And we’re not.


So did that realization, and being around people who are much different than you, help you grow?


It expanded my world, to be sincere, the same way I could have expanded their worlds. Being around people like Clint and Meagan or Tovah, they’re not really around people like myself, and I’m not really around people like them. Certainly it’s a challenge, because you have much less control so you’re automatically defensive. Nevertheless then you notice that it’s actually such a cool experience that you get to grow and learn and be around these people. It’s not real life to be around the same sort people all of the time. Even if it’s activists that I’m around for the entire day, that’s still ignorant, because not each person is a liberal activist.


Have you been consciously entering far less comfortable or familiar spaces since filming ended?


Yeah, I used to be scared of going to events if I didn’t know who was there or what it was, really. Although right now, I’m like: F*** who’s gonna be there, and expect someone to adore me being there. In New York, it could be an especially scary thing, because your first impression is a very crucial one, and reputation is big. People connect your professional life with your personality — there’s no separating the two.


In a lot of ways you said, ladies are still stuck in the same routine of being told they’re not the correct size or don’t have the correct look. Although on the other hand, there really are encouraging assignments like Aidy Bryant’s Shrill becoming more popular, which a lot of ladies associated with. Who in pop culture inspires you with respect to body-positivity?


Number One, everybody already is aware, is Lizzo. One-hundred percent, she is so confident, so incredible. She doesn’t give a f***. She puts herself out there as herself. Honestly, she’s one of the sexiest people out there now. I saw her at the MTV TV and Movie Awards and each person was going nuts. She has people going crazy. And one of my preferred models is Tara Lynn. She literally just had a kid, is still modeling. She’s routinely been a plus model, her body fluctuates. And she’s out there doing her thing looking excellent, no matter what size. She just did Sports Illustrated.


Are you overjoyed of the impression you made on the show? I’m pretty sure you’re the opening person on the series to address body-positivity so publicly at a panel.


It feels astonishing, and I’m like: Why didn’t it happen before? Nevertheless I’m glad it was me, because I’m able to be so truthful and transparent. If I might bring anything to the show, I’m glad that it was something that could help other people.


Now that filming is over, what are some of your objectives? Where will activism take you?


I’m never gonna stop being an activist or whichever you’d like to call it. Each day of my existence is activism. Day-to-day, if I don’t believe in something, I’m gonna fight against it. I would love have the ability to prepare make some cash and survive on that. I never hope to have to work in corporate America. To be frank, what I’m looking forward to doing is more panels or — I’m not a writer — although writing about it. Although I can begin a conversation about things that need to be discussed about, that’s what I'd like to do.


Is there anything else you’d like to mention to young people struggling through self-image?


Sooner or later, your truth will reveal itself whether you want it to or not, so the sooner you face your truth and tackle whatever’s there, sooner you’ll have the ability to reside in freedom. Be courageous enough to be yourself.