I have a confession to make: from grades three through six, I was a fat child. During this period, when my physician hypothesized that I was lactose intolerant, I was forced to endure a test diet for several weeks with virtually no incorporation of cheese, butter or cream products, and I was utterly devastated.

As my mother and I sat in the car outside of Dr. Atalla’s office and pondered my diagnosis, tears streamed down my face. “Jon, get a hold of yourself!” she exclaimed. A mother’s love just couldn’t calm this fatty down: I was cheese-less and therefore inconsolable.

Given my history, it’s entirely possible that I cannot be objective when public figures are attacked on the basis of their weight. My 22-year-old face, no longer equipped with a backup chin, still contorts with rage every time I remember that kind of funny but then-horrifying nickname I was given by a few heartless peers: “Jon Montitty.” But rather than hunt my past aggressors down, I have decided to weigh in (so to speak) on a recent comments involving the pounds recently gained by former supermodel and talk show host Tyra Banks.

A few weeks ago, less-than-flattering photographs of Banks walking on the beach in a bathing suit surfaced in Australian tabloids and distributed on the Internet. The Web site photos were joined by such witty captions as “America’s Next Top Waddle,” “Fat Tyra,” and “Tyra Porkchop.” Bonus points for flexing the creative muscles on those last two.

In response, Banks decided to set the porkchop down for a moment, a painstaking sacrifice, I’m sure, and keep it real. She announced on Good Morning America that she would host an episode of her show in that same bathing suit, unafraid to display, in her own words, the “dimples in my booty.” Banks also appeared on the cover of People magazine in a swimsuit and fired back against her critics in an accompanying article.

I have to admit that I’m impressed with Banks’ attention to the bigger picture. According to Galina Espinoza, senior editor of People, Banks realizes that as a model, she contributed to an “image of perfection,” but she now recognizes the potential to serve as a role model in her position as a talk show host watched by millions of television viewers. “She’s at a healthy body weight and a healthy size and her big concern is young girls who look up to her, saying, ‘We think you are so beautiful and love that you are not a size 2.’ What are they going to think if they see my picture being called these horrible things?”

There will always be people who view this kind of “But kids will see this!” response as a shallow attempt to change the subject and elevate the victim to a saintly status. I don’t blame them, but in this case, Banks is doing the right thing. It’s an indisputable fact that many girls and young women admire models such as Banks and aspire to look like them.

It is also obvious that this admiration can and has become an unhealthy obsession which has only gotten worse since today’s supermodels are already several sizes smaller than the size six models of the 1990s such as Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell.

By slamming her critics in the most public of ways and showing that it is in fact, possible to be attractive without starving oneself to death, Banks is getting her revenge while still sending an extremely important message to the highly impressionable.

Neither Banks nor any other single individual can stop all young women from risking their health to look like the near-skeletons they see walking down the runway.

But if there’s an even a small chance that their actions can make a difference to the people that idolize them so much, then Banks’ decision to go public about her weight gain should earn her a decent amount of credit.

Or at least a porkchop, right?