Winnie Harlow Called Out a Newspaper for Labeling Her a ‘Vitiligo Sufferer’

Winnie Harlow is a successful model. Winnie Harlow is also a woman who has vitiligo, a condition that causes skin to lose its pigmentation. What Winnie Harlow is not, however, is a model “suffering” from vitiligo, as she recently called out to London newspaper Evening Standard after the publication described her as a “Canadian vitiligo sufferer” in a photo caption.

Harlow posted a photo of the blurb on Instagram on Monday, along with an explanation of how she isn’t defined by her condition. “If anything I’m SUCCEEDING at showing people that their differences don’t make them WHO they are,” she wrote.

She continued, “I’m sick of every headline ending in ‘Vitiligo Sufferer’ or ‘Suffers from Vitiligo’. Do you see me suffering? The only thing I’m suffering from are your headlines and the closed minds of humans who have one beauty standard locked into their minds when there are multiple standards of beauty! The beach was damn fine that day, nothing to suffer about!”

Loading

View on Instagram

It’s not the first time Harlow has addressed the issue. In 2016, she told ELLE Canada she was “very sick” of talking about her skin. “I am literally just a human. I have the same brain as you; there’s a skeleton under my skin just like yours. It’s not that serious,” she said.

Still, her visibility in media has had a positive effect on other women living with the condition. As Jesi Taylor, a 27-year-old activist who has vitiligo, recently told Glamour, “European beauty standards need to be dismantled to make room for more diverse types of beauty to be seen. Models like Winnie and Amy [Deanna] do just that.” The language we use to discuss it, however, could use some catching up.

Related Stories:
-Women With Vitiligo Are Finally Feeling Seen
-CoverGirl’s New Foundation Ad Features Its First Model With Vitiligo
-This Is the First Model With Albinism to Be the Face of a Major Beauty Brand