I don't care what color you are, what size you are, where you're

The words of Shonda Rhimes rise like a hymn of liberation: “I don’t care what color you are, what size you are, where you’re from. It is disturbing that there’s an idea that only tall, thin, willowy, size 0 women are attractive—even for the tall, thin, willowy, size 0 woman! We all should get to feel like there’s something powerful and beautiful about who we are.” In this she casts down the false idols of beauty, declaring that worth is not confined to narrow forms, but belongs to the infinite variety of human being.

For centuries, societies have forged chains in the guise of ideals—binding women to the tyranny of appearance. From the pale, powdered faces of the French court to the bound feet of women in ancient China, cultures exalted a single vision of beauty, demanding sacrifice of body and spirit. Rhimes denounces this inheritance. She reminds us that no one, not even the so-called ideal, is free within such prisons, for even the woman who fits the standard suffers beneath its cruelty.

History offers us luminous resistance to these false measures. Hatshepsut of Egypt, a queen who declared herself Pharaoh, did not rule by beauty’s standard but by power, wisdom, and command. She often donned the beard of kingship to embody authority, showing that greatness lay not in the form of the body but in the force of the spirit. In her reign, Egypt prospered, and her legacy endures as proof that powerful and beautiful are not bound to one image but can take countless forms.

Rhimes’s words also strike at the heart of modern culture, where images crafted by media create illusions that gnaw at the self-worth of millions. Against this tide, she calls for a humanization of beauty—a recognition that every form carries its own radiance. To feel powerful in one’s own skin is to break free of chains more insidious than iron: the chains of comparison, envy, and doubt.

So let the future remember: the measure of a soul is not in inches or pounds, not in shade of skin nor in place of birth. The power of humanity lies in its diversity, its countless shapes and colors, each carrying its own splendor. To be truly beautiful is to be alive in truth, unashamed and unafraid. When all people learn to see this, not only in themselves but in one another, the world will no longer bow before false idols, but will rejoice in the divine variety of creation.