Reference This Article Prior to Reading Post
Okay I know this article is from March, but give me a break - I don't exactly keep up on the current happenings over at French Elle. I do, however, find this concept incredibly fascinating, joyful, and depressing all at once. Let me explain.
I just googled "plus sized models" to see what sort of articles and photos would pop up and this is about the depth of what I discovered: I am plus sized model size. One girl featured in an article was a size 10, I'm a freaking size 10. Granted she looks way better in a bikini than I do, which is probably where the whole "model" thing differentiates between us, that simply doesn't seem right. When I think "plus sized" I think Lane Bryant or something, stores and clothing companies where women go to shop who aren't comfortable in department stores, or whose size isn't carried regularly in them. What kind of image is this displaying to young girls, girls who open up the pages of any magazine to see these (albeit beautiful) "plus sized" women, who in actuality represent the greater percentage of women in America? They are not "plus sized," they are normal sized! We are indoctrinating our youth to believe that in order to be beautiful and successful you must be thin. This is so obviously not the case and it's maddening that our print and advertisement media are so willing to jump on the bandwagon to support such notions.
Let me delve into the part about why this "phenomenon" fascinates me. I guess it's really two-fold. First, a sickening fascination with the way people view women who are not stick thin being featured in magazines or television shows, portraying them as being larger than the average woman (or perhaps model is more accurate). Second, an overwhelmingly sad fascination with that same fact. How can a man pick up a magazine, see a size 8, 10, 12, woman and say that she is "plus sized," when in reality they are probably dating a woman of the same size and would never dare to classify her as such? If that's not a double standard I don't know what is, and it's not fair to any woman, of any size, to be condemned to these standards that have been set upon us. Since when did it become status quo for people not to eat? To fad diet and when they do eat to throw up the food they ingested all for the sake of being THIN? Simple facts: not all women are created to be a size 2, not all women will ever have large hips and thighs and fit into size 12 jeans either. In Victorian times it was attractive for a woman to be well fed, meaning larger, but oh God forbid in these times a woman be her natural size or anything above it! By no means am I promoting overeating, or being overweight or unhealthy - but c'mon people. If we were all made to be the same size - guess what? WE WOULD ALL BE THE SAME SIZE.
This country's sick obsession with weight and how you "look" and the way people portray themselves is sickening. The worst part about this is, we as women completely subscribe to these notions of how we should and shouldn't look. What we should wear, how we should style our hair, what kind of jeans we should buy, the exact numbers of how much we should weigh, heels or flats? IT'S ALL SO POINTLESS. Do what makes you happy, eat what you please, sing or dance if you'd like, be healthy but don't be obsessed with the number on the scale. I don't even weigh myself anymore, I haven't for almost two years. Why? Because I'm no better than this obsession with weight, I subscribe to it to, I hate it, I don't want to become it, I can't, it's too hurtful.
If you aren't outraged, you're not paying enough attention.
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