She Undresses on a Street. Sounds Familiar? There's One Big Difference

Last month, a young woman named Jae West stripped to her underwear on a busy London street as part of a social experiment. Now, Amy Pence-Brown from Idaho, United States has done a repeat. The response has been tremendous, as it was with Jae.

There are several similarities between the two experiments - both women wear black, blindfold themselves and stand with their arms outstretched. Both employ a signboard to explain that they are doing this in aid of self-acceptance and invited people to draw hearts on their bodies.

The difference - and it is a big difference - is in their body types.  

Jae, survivor of an eating disorder, is slim and in shape. Amy is plus-size. 

After watching Jae's video, Amy wanted to see if people reacted in the same way to somebody with a larger body type. And older. And in a location not as cosmopolitan as London. On her blog, she wrote, "How would it be received if the woman had been less socially acceptable in appearance, like, fat? And, say, a mom who's nearly 40-years-old? And in a place that was more conservative and less progressive than London like, say, Boise, Idaho?"

She turned the question in her mind into an experiment of her own on the street of her town:
 
What happened next was as amazing as Jae's experience - people stopped and started drawing hearts on her body.

A thrilled Amy wrote: "The hush in the crowd around me was instantaneous and I barely had time to tie on my blindfold, prop up my sign and grab my markers before the first woman rushed up to me, touched my hand with her shaky one, told me I was brave and powerful and asked if she could give me a hug and started to cry."



Amy ended her blog with these words: "We can't truly love one another until we fully love ourselves. And once we do, I guarantee, that together we can move mountains." Are you moved by Amy's story too? Leave your comments below.