It's weird when in today's society, being fat is so reviled, that there are people who are still fighting to be considered plus sized. There is a bit of a brou haha with model Robin Lawley who launched her plus sized pretty swimsuit line Swimsuits for All. You can see her in the yellow bikini on this site. She looks lovely, and she is what the fashion industry and the real world considers plus sized. Though the argument can be made in the real world, she'd qualify as an average.
She's been kicking up a stir because she's lost a bunch of weight. Her choices, her reasons, none of my business. However then issue is, do you still get to call yourself plus sized if you aren't. In model world, she can be a size 8 and still plus sized, whereas in real world, she's well under that. Needless to say, anyone with half a brain knows that model world has some serious issues with body diversity.
A lot of people are upset because she was still representing as plus sized. The reason being is, if what she is now is considered as plus sized, then is there a new norm of what is "healthy/skinny/beautiful"? She's upset because she doesn't feel like she can win, she's clearly gone out of the plus sized market and has caused some disappointment. I can understand that, as us fat girls have very few representatives in the beauty industry. This gives more weight into equating fat to ugly, so to lose someone kinda sucks. Then again though, she's clearly not plus sized.
I think another issue in what I see is the commercialization of plus sized. More and more of us women are becoming aware that we needn't go on a diet and become a size 4 to be pretty. We are starting to embrace and dare I say love our bodies and fashion is starting to have to adapt. With online shopping, we can pick out an outfit and look just as awesome as those not in our category. This is great for people who love shopping as much as I do, but it too has a pitfall. The plus sized model. I've noticed that many of the models have similar body types. They may have some extra weight on them, but it's concentrated mostly in the boobs and butt area and you don't see chubby knees, or larger arms and certainly not a hint of double chin. And the worry I have is, that went you go onto a site like Swimsuits for All and see Robyn Lawley with a not plus sized body modeling, there is a wee bit of a problem. I see a model who made a name being a plus sized model and excellent for her, but she's retaining that status and making money off it, even though she no longer fits there.
Is it okay to do that? Is it okay to use a below average sized body to market plus sized swimsuits and gear to women and girls? Given that eating disorders on an epic rise, is it responsible? I dunno, personally, if I were to become a model (they just haven't discovered me yet lol) and ended up losing weight, I'd resign as a representative for plus sized people. It's strange because no one would think twice about someone resigning from a political party, or non-profit if someone found themselves in conflict with the overall message of that organization, but it's hard to put it into words with this. I think because we're not talking about beliefs, we're talking about image and while all in all, it can be considered a vapid subject, battle lines have been drawn and women who are fat have to constantly prove ourselves smart, pretty, funny, ambitious, hard working because of our image. So to have someone who no longer has to fight that battle to say they still represent, is a bit frustrating to say the least, especially when they know exactly what that battle is
No comments:
Post a Comment