Did you hear that if you’re a certain clothing size, you’re more likely to be happier than women smaller than you? According to a UK poll of 2000 women (conducted, it should be noted, by a plus-size clothing retailer), 74% of UK size 16 women are happy with their appearance. For the record, that would be a US size 12.
The survey goes on to mention that 52% of UK size 6 (US 4) women wish they were curvier. Ah, lovely. We’ve found another way to pit women’s bodies against one another – this time, if you’re too small, you’re not good/happy/whatever enough. (Interestingly, in this study, there is no mention about how women who are bigger than a US 12 feel about their bodies.) I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but women’s bodies are collectively not Goldilocks, where there is a mythical “just right.”
Anyway, apparently being a US 12 is the sweet spot, where we women feel most sexy and confident, and where our clothes fit just right. To that I say: Nope.
Now, I’m happy that so many “plus-size” women are happy with their curves, but can’t we just stop talking about our sizes altogether? (And not to mention, who decided a US 12 was “plus-size,” anyway?!) I know this survey was conducted by a company who makes clothing targeted at just these women who are purportedly the happiest, but enough is enough. We went from “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” to “real women have curves,” from thinspiration to fitspiration, from Kate Moss to Christina Hendricks.
We bounce from one bodily extreme to another, when the fact is, our bodies are myriad and marvelous. All women are real women, and no body size or shape is better than another. Sure, the media (and the diet industry) do NOT want you believe this, but we have to. Because otherwise we live our lives in misery, constantly trying to achieve some fluctuating ideal that is impossible for the vast majority of us. Do you really want to live like that? I know I don’t.
If you’re a size 2 and you feel awesome, that’s fantastic. If you’re a size 20 and you love your body, that’s also fantastic. Assigning dress sizes to happiness doesn’t do anybody any good – except the companies selling dresses in those sizes.
