Kiwi Instagram sensation Jess Quinn is devoted to getting diversity on display and she's hit out at the "cookie cutter mould of perfection" that see photos - particularly online - retouched, including images of her.
McQuinn lost her leg after suffering bone cancer as a nine-year-old and now has a prosthetic leg.
"I don't want 16-year-old girls growing up thinking that their thighs can't touch, or that they can't have a bit of curve," Quinn told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp
The social media star, who has 185,000 Instagram followers, takes her responsibilities as a role model very seriously by remaining "raw" and "honest" about her journey.
Earlier this year, the healthy-eating advocate did a photo shoot with a women's magazine and was initially happy with the published images - until she discovered they had been touched up.
"I got another email through with some untouched images. It wasn't until I saw those images that I actually realised that the original images that I'd been sent had been touched up," she said.
"I've completely been clenched in at the waist and then on the arms, my skin's clearly been toned down a little bit. It's not a drastic change, but it's enough of a change that I don't think was necessary."
Retouching, the model says, is "part of the process", but she also thinks it's her responsibility to be herself by "talking about body image and body confidence and wearing my blade". (Quinn has a prosthestic leg)
As an "influencer", Quinn has to declare if she's working with a sponsor to promote their products, but she says normalising the practice would be "game-changing".
"I believe that everything in print and in media should do the exact same thing and it should say, 'This image has been retouched.'
"We're still, I believe, referring back to this cookie cutter mould of perfection and what beauty looks like and it needs to change, definitely."
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