Size twelve is plus-size?

I was on Facebook the other night and noticed in the ticker that someone had read an article on Yahoo! The article was titled: "Supermodels without photoshop." I thought to myself, Okay, you have my attention, so I clicked on the link and started reading. I was about to commend them for not using photoshop, but that quickly changed when I read the last of the paragraph: "From left to right we have Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio, plus-size model Crystal Renn, and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Brooklyn Decker" (Douglas). As soon as I saw the words "plus-size", I immediately looked down at the picture, shocked that they would have a plus-size model. But then I stared at the picture in confusion. They were all skinny.

From what I can tell, Alessandra looks drastically unhealthy and bony. I would not want to touch her in fear of breaking her. Crystal actually looks to be a healthy weight, and so does Brooklyn. I kept looking back and forth from this picture to the words "plus-size". Something didn't add up. This can't be what society considers "fat" I thought to myself. I finally decided to read the rest of the article, and at the very bottom, it said: "*For the record, I just want to clarify that Crystal Renn is a size 12, and that is what the modeling industry--not myself--labels as plus-size" (Douglas). Alright, so this lady just brought up one good point in the article. No photoshop. Hey, that's one step up, right? But then she made the mistake of bringing weight into question. As if her ending statement (which I just quoted) fixes anything. It sounds as though she is trying to say, "Hey, I'm not the one making the rule. But it doesn't change the fact that size twelve is considered fat". Let me just say that the so-called "plus-size" model is probably wearing a bathing suit labeled "small" in size, because if that swimsuit was indeed a "1x", it wouldn't even fit me. I'd be considered morbidly obese in the modeling world given that horrible description of how weight is measured. Morbidly. Obese.

Honestly, where the fuck is our society headed? Are we striving to purge ourselves and puke up everything that we've ever eaten just so that we can fit into a size zero? Because I can tell you right now that I do NOT want to look like Alessandra. I'd be skin and bones, literally, and I'm sorry, but that just doesn't look right. It's disgusting, and any girl who thinks that bony figures are hot probably has an eating disorder because of models like the above who are told that if they want to stay in the business, they better lose weight. And for them, it's much too late, because they're already brainwashed. Not only that, but they're giving unrealistic expectations of what all of us should look like, even young girls who probably aren't older than twelve years. I just want to make it clear that SIZE TWELVE IS NOT PLUS SIZE.

I'm a size 16 in jeans, a size 18 in dresses, a large in shirts, and I'm okay with that. No way am I ready to go running ten miles and puking my guts out after every meal to grow a size smaller. If I decide to exercise, it's not going to be for the purpose of getting "skinny." It's going to be for the purpose of being healthy and feeling healthy. Yeah, maybe I do struggle to find the right pair of jeans that fit, and maybe I don't like the way some shirts look on me. But at least I'm not a skeleton who isn't enjoying her food because I'm worried about what other people might think of my size. Everyone is beautiful in their own special way, and we shouldn't have to be ashamed of ourselves because society doesn't like it. Fuck what society thinks. I know that I found myself involuntarily shaking my head at this article for a reason, and it's because it just isn't right, and I know it isn't right. And you do too.

Society is going down the drain, but we can change that, because we are society. So please go to this article and speak up.

Size twelve is not plus-size!!

Thanks for your time.


Works Cited:

Douglas, Joanna. "Supermodels without photoshop." Shine from Yahoo! 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 06 Apr. 2012 <http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/supermodels-without-photoshop-1108305.html>.