New Documentary Challenges Beauty Ideals: 'Success Is Not About Being Your Skinniest Self'

Straight/Curve aims to expose women to different forms of beauty

The upcoming documentary Straight/Curve is challenging the notion that thin bodies are the “ideal,” and examines how the types of bodies shown in the media and the fashion industry can affect women’s sense of body satisfaction.

The film features models Sabina Karlsson and Emme, as well as fashion industry insiders including Tim Gunn.

“It’s time to acknowledge that there’s more than just fitting one frame of beauty,” Karlsson tells PEOPLE.

The New York-based model believes that showing all types of bodies in the media is essential.

“Making young girls and women feel like there’s someone in a magazine, in a movie or on the street that looks like them is very important for every woman to realize that beauty comes in all shapes,” she says. “Having a film like Straight/Curve when I was growing up would’ve helped me to realize that as a model, success is not about being your skinniest self — it’s about finding your own body and feeling good about it, at whatever size that might be.”

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Emme believes the film can have a powerful impact.

“When women and young girls are exposed to other women trying to figure out their body image, it releases the illusion that they are suffering alone,” she tells PEOPLE. “Today we’re at a tipping point. Too many women and young girls have had enough, and are opting to stand up for themselves. Women are uniting and speaking to the message of self-acceptance in droves, including young, old, gay, straight, bi, trans. It’s about time!”

Straight/Curve premieres June 21 at 8/7c on EPIX.