“We were all created differently for a reason. How boring would life be if we all looked like one another?!”

Free spirited Samantha Anderson loves nature, reading books, being naked on the balcony, tanlines & bathtubs, exotic fruits, dancing with the waves and traveling around the world.

What inspired you to become a model and how did you get started?

I think there has always been a creative and artistic side to me. I did a few plays when I was younger and although I never stuck with it I loved the idea of playing a part. To be honest, I never thought so much about modeling though until about 5 years ago when a number of people suggested that I give it a try. One of my mother’s friends is a photographer so when he also suggested it I said why not? What is the worst that can happen? From there I did a bunch of commercial, fashion, and runway work for a few years. That was extremely fun because in runway shows and fashion you are basically acting. You are bringing the clothes to life and you really have to be expressive so I loved that part of modeling. I have done shows where I looked like a Drag Queen, shoots where I played both male and female. It was such a great experience. Then, after a few years my schedule got busier and I just didn’t have time to work with an agency anymore. I didn’t like the restraints of the contracts and being at their beckon call. I was working full time and going to school full-time, modeling was never my end goal so eventually I stopped doing commercial and fashion stuff and fell in love with nude art.

When you were a child what did you want to be?

I wanted to be a Physical Therapist and work with athletes or in geriatric medicine. At first, that is what I was studying, kinesiology, but after 2 years I switched to Health Promotion so I currently have a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences.

In this instagram post you are talking very honest about how you used to “think that having small boobs made me “less feminine” but realized to love your body. Why do you think society (and sometimes oneself too) always falls into the trap of having certain standards for beauty?

This is a perpetual trap that seems we will always fall into especially with all of the social media platforms these days. We grow up surrounded by television shows, billboards, commercials, magazines, and even toys showing us what an “ideal body should look like”. Nowadays children and teenagers have IG and FB. When I was younger there was no such thing as social media platforms. We had television shows and cartoons, like, beauty and the beast, the little mermaid, snow white, etc. and in all of these TV shows and movies the main female characters have unrealistic beauty traits. They are all super thin, with big breast, tiny waists, hips and long legs. They even wear makeup! These are shows that are created specifically for little children. The males in these shows are also being portrayed in a certain way. They are usually very built, strong, athletic and macho. These are characters that little children look up to. Kids fantasize about being Belle and meeting their prince, they want to dress up as them for Halloween, have their rooms decorated in those themes. Little girls watch these shows and notice that the pretty, “girly” princess is the one who always gets the prince and starts to think at a very young age, that, “ok, this is what I am suppose to look like when I’m older if I want to have a boyfriend” Barbie dolls that we used to play with wear eye shadow, blush, lipstick; they have, relatively speaking, big breasts and cleavage! Also, the tiniest waist possible and these insanely long thin legs. Girls are watching these TV shows and playing with these Barbie dolls for years growing up and thinking, “wow, I want to look like a Barbie” If the Barbie and all of my favorite characters have big boobs, big hips and a tiny waist, maybe that is what the definition of a beautiful woman is. And just like that, at an early age without anyone saying ANYTHING to us specifically about beauty our minds are already being brainwashed to think that we have to be the gorgeous, thin, princess type in order to be “beautiful”. Then comes the advertisement business which knows that “sex sells” so in the majority of ads, they are using models, with mostly the same type of body, all very thin females. When you see females depicted a certain way your entire life in movies, modeling, advertisement, you automatically start to believe that THIS is how you should look. Now, with apps like IG, it is only harder. I’m sure there has been a boost in cosmetic surgery over the last couple of years since IG became so popular. And I am all for surgery if someone feels VERY strongly about disliking a certain feature of theirs but it seems like women are just getting these uncontrollably big lips just because they see them on other celebrities and THINK that’s what makes them beautiful. With IG being so easily accessible it’s easy to keep tabs on celebrities lives; what they’re wearing, what they look like, what diet they’re on, etc. and it’s just not healthy at all to always compare yourself to others.

“With IG being so easily accessible it’s easy to keep tabs on celebrities lives; what they’re wearing, what they look like, what diet they’re on, etc. and it’s just not healthy at all to always compare yourself to others.”

Growing up and to this day I’ve always been such a tomboy; very active and athletic. I still hate wearing makeup and dressing up. Being a tomboy PLUS having a small chest made me feel very unwomanly for the longest time. This was because the main characters in shows and movies and the models on covers were never athletes. When social media started to become so popular and I was using IG more I realized I was comparing myself to other women and it made me miserable. I realized quickly that this is a path of destruction if I keep doing this, I need to love my body, every curve, every dimple, and every birthmark the way it is. I fell in love with my uniqueness and myself. I was HAPPY not to look like everyone else. Pictures on IG would show up on my explore page and every girl would look the same, the Kylie Jenner pout is taking over the world. We were all created differently for a reason. How boring would life be if we all looked like one another?!

Luckily, these days it seems that modeling agencies are becoming more diverse and I love to see that. Kudos to Sports Illustrated for embodying women of every shape, size and race. It also seems that the movie industry has been making more powerful leading roles for females, like, Super Woman, even though they still dressed her in very sexy clothing, it’s a start in the right direction! It seems hard to fully fall out of this trap but I’m hoping that it is not too far fetched of a dream.

If you are looking throughout history, representations of naked bodies have always existed. Why do you think that nowadays natural nudity is considered as something that needs to be “hidden” or censored and is being peripheralized?

I think nudity, in America specifically, is more frowned upon than in any other countries. I spend quite a bit of time in Europe each year because my fiancé is originally from Slovenia and the attitudes toward nudity, compared to America, are the polar opposite. It’s normal to see a family at the beach in the nude together. Now, if a family were seen at a nude beach together here in America they would be criticized so badly and looked at weirdly. I think most Americans weren’t raised that way, to be so open and comfortable with nudity, unfortunately. We, as a country, are way more closed minded when it comes to that topic. Even though I am American, I think Americans can be the most judgmental people on this planet. A perfect example, last week Tom Brady (a famous football player) kissed his younger son on the lips and people had a FIELD DAY criticizing him about it. It made headline news; it was all over the Internet. If a European celebrity did this, no one would think twice about it. It would never be a subject on the news, of course! I think a huge contributing factor is that America was “founded” by the Puritans. That religion was sort of the core and foundation of the U.S and has carried on for hundreds of years.

“I need to love my body, every curve,
every dimple, and every birthmark the way it is. “

How much time are you spending on social media?

To be honest, over the last year I haven’t been using it as much. It’s just not the same as it was two years ago. Plus, I had such busy schedule with work, modeling, traveling, taking care of my 2 years old niece; I barely had time for browsing IG. I’ll post like once a week or every 2 weeks now. Gaining a large following isn’t a goal of mine so I’m not going to post everyday just to try and beat the algorithm.

Is there anything that you would want to change about the social networks?

YES. With the new algorithms you mostly see pictures of famous people and Ads. That is not why I signed up for IG. I like to see pictures of the people I follow so it would be nice if they stopped pushing other people to follow so much. I think they should lighten up on the nipple policy as well.

Favorite food?
Indian! Just had Indian for the third time this week.

Favorite flower?
Hibiscus

Favorite book?
Beneath The Scarlet Sky. Love me a good WWII book!

Favorite movie?
The Hobbit

Favorite question?

“What was your favorite part of the backpacking trip?”

And the answer on it? :)

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with reef sharks, turtles and fish the size of my body!

all images provided by Samantha