As if Ashley Graham hasn’t had to endure enough nonsense for people having to cope with the fact that a woman with curves is on the cover of a mainstream swimsuit magazine, today she went on The Ellen Show and talked with Ellen about her new lingerie and swimsuit lines coming out, and of course the debate over calling her ‘plus-size’.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to see that Ashley is using her voice to start a positive dialogue about the negative connotations of using the phrase ‘plus size’ and taking charge of the conversation, but how is it 2016 and she still has to use the joke defense mechanism of why the term “plus-size” makes her uncomfortable?

She explained, “The fashion industry considers every woman over size 8 to be plus size, going up to a size 16/18. So the majority of this room is considered plus size, hope you feel better about yourself! That’s the problem–we’re telling women that they’re plus size. For me, I just like to call it curvasexalicious.”

Is curvasexalicious a real word? Leaning towards probably not. Is it a word that describes Ashley? Absolutely, she’s stunning! But what makes this conversation so sad and so painful to watch is the fact that she has to make light of the situation, and joke about labels that society puts on women since (surprise) she is embracing her curves and not shying away from them.

Yes, it’s a step in the right direction as Ashley is the first curvy woman to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but let’s not forget they used the word ‘beauty’ in describing Hailey Clauson and Ronda Rousey, and went for ‘sultry’ with Ashley in the issue.

So great that society has completely eradicated the pressures it has put on women to fit into a certain definition of beauty.