IT’S time we got real about beautiful women and accepted they do not always come in 6ft tall, size eight packages, says Natasha Worby.

The photographer and former glamour model has set up an alternative beauty pageant where women of all sizes, ages and sexual orientation can enter.

Natasha says: “The rules of mainstream beauty pageants are too strict, too old fashioned, very sexist and very discriminatory.

“Beautiful women come in all shapes, sizes, colours, creeds and religions and I want my pageant to reflect that.

“I know quite a few girls who compete in beauty pageants and they tell me they feel under pressure to look the same as the other contestants, so they all end up looking the same with big hair, shiny, white teeth and lots of makeup.

“This is so far from the reality of what makes a beautiful woman.”

She is fed up with the established competitions that seem to be prejudiced against candidates who are married, mothers, gay, pierced, tattooed or over 25.

For this reason she is launching the Alternative World Pageant to break away from the rigidity of current mainstream beauty competitions.

She says: “The pageant will celebrate diversity and different types of beauty. I have worked with lots of models of all shapes and sizes, tattooed, plus size and some 5ft 11ins and some 5ft 2ins, who are all beautiful in their own right.”

Natasha, who is 30 and runs a photography studio in Southend, is not only focused on the pageant industry.

She says: “It is the whole beauty and fashion industry that needs to change. The average woman is a size 16 and 5ft 4ins and yet we constantly show images of women who are tall and skinny and airbrushed. It’s time to broaden what we perceive to be beautiful.”

But having worked as a model herself, and made a career photographing glamour models and commercial models, does she really think it is that bad?

“No, but there is room to include a range of different types of models rather the very limited types of models we are shown in the pageant world, the glamour industry and the catwalk.

“Young girls see these images over and over again and they are the ones who are most likely to be influenced by them. I am 30 now and have made peace with my body. I know that I was not made to have a thigh gap and it does not bother me. But young girls should be shown that they are normal and lovely as they are.”

Natasha, who organised the Essex’s Top Glamour Model competition in 2011, is proud of her work as a model where she appeared in men’s magazines like FHM and Nuts. She says: “I was never a high-profile glamour model. I’m not ashamed of that time in my life. I was young, 19, and it was part of me growing up and finding myself.

“I think in a small way I was influenced to look a certain way. I used fake tan, which I hate now, and hair extensions. But I am proud of the photos and have them up in my house.”

Natasha likes to think of herself as a modern feminist.

She says: ‘Feminism is about supporting other women and celebrating them. Not trying to prevent them doing what they enjoy and earn money from doing it. Should a woman want to be a nude model, as long as she is doing it safely and is not being pressured into it then good on her. Men are not manipulating women who do this, it is in fact the other way around. The men are the ones buying the magazines.”

In her work as a glamour photographer, she has found discrimination exists and says: “Magazines and even page 3 tend to favour Caucasian skin tones. Plus size models can often start at a size 10, despite the UK average dress size being 14/16.”

Natasha also researched established beauty pageants.

She says: “I discovered several of the world pageants actually stated applicants must not be married, but those that did accept married applicant stated the applicant must be married ‘to a genetically born male’, therefore openly discriminating against gay marriage, something that is legal in the UK!

“Some pageants also state applicants have to be ‘born genetically female’, therefore transgender women aren’t able to apply.

“Again, this is against the individual’s human rights and discriminates against a medically-proven condition. They need to take a good hard look at their terms and conditions.”

Natasha trained to become a makeup artist in 2008 when she was pregnant with her first child and taught herself photography in 2011.

She has worked with cast members from TV shows Towie, Big Brother and Geordie Shore, and glamour and commercial models.

Joining Natasha on the judging panel for her competition will be plus size model and body confidence campaigner Katie Green.

The Essex Final will be held in at Park Inn, Southend-on-Sea on May 28, 2015, with the grand final being held in June in London.

The winner will receive clothing, beauty treatments and a professional photography portfolio to help launch their modelling career.

The team behind the pageant will also be using the event to raise awareness of the charity “Ditch the Label”, an anti-bullying charity.

All entrants have to be over 18. For more information, visit alternativeworldpageant.com