What size is considered plus size?
There have been a lot of issues surrounding the stigma of “plus size” models; we need to set some things straight right now.
The average American woman wears a size 14. Plus size models start at size six. Therefore, most “plus size” models are still smaller than the American average.
Now, do not get me wrong, I am not trying to skinny-shame anyone here. I’m also not trying to say the average size describes every woman ever. I am just trying to say the fashion world needs to rethink some things. And to do that, we need to get real.
This is perhaps the realest thing I have and will ever say- I am a size 12. Since I was 10, my size has fluctuated anywhere from an 8 to a 14. That makes me a “plus size” for the latter 11 years of my life. 11 years, more than half of my life. That includes my formative years, when media can most affect how I view myself.
According to the National Institute of Health, formative years, or adolescence, occurs between the ages of 10 and 19. That’s nine of my 11 years as a “plus size” woman.
Now that we have that out there, time to move on. So, we’ve already said that 14 is the average American size. Want to hear something weird? According to an article on the subject from cleveland.com, “In fact, size 14 is among the least purchased sizes out there for many manufacturers. So it seems that being a size 14 and buying a size 14 are in fact two very different things.”
This brings us back to what really counts as being plus size? According to media, plus size is above a size six, and actual sizes are not true to size, so you really have no clue what your true size is.
Well, according to me, the world just needs to drop the whole plus size thing. And I am not the only one that thinks that.
Women come in all different shapes and sizes, and this should just add to their uniqueness, not be frowned upon. We spend too much time fat-shaming, and skinny-shaming for that matter, to pay attention to anything else.
Flowers don’t pay attention to other flowers while they are growing. They focus on staying healthy and blossoming, nothing else. And you know what, at the end of the day, each flower is beautiful. We do not say one flower is “fat” or “skinny” just because it is different.
And women should not refer to other women like that. Or anyone at all.
So I’m proposing a challenge: Forget about “plus size,” forget about the words “fat” or “skinny.”
What I want you to do is look in the mirror. That’s it. Take a long, hard look in the mirror. If any negative stigma surrounding body size didn’t exist, would you think of yourself as beautiful? If so, stay confident and don’t let the media or other people tell you what to think about yourself. If not, figure out what you have to do to see yourself as beautiful, and do it.
We all have the right, and deserve, to be beautiful.
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