Bodies of All types

Last night I was looking through one of my favourite websites for selling clothes. I know that this website tends to focus on the smaller body types. I mean all their clothes are modeled by size S - M (max) women, and thats fine and all but I was so disappointed yesterday. Upon seeing that there was a sale on Swimsuits on the front page, I went to check it out ( without any real interest in purchasing anything). Swimsuits are a relatively new addition to the website. The website for the most part focuses on selling clothes to women S-M and to some extent L. So when I went on that swim suit page, why exactly was I surprised when I went on the swimsuit page to see almost 70 swimsuits available in sizes S-L and a total of TWO, yes 2!!!!!?? bathing suits available for "plus sized" women. And a total of about 5 coverup options for the plus sized woman yet NO cover up options for the smaller sizes. 


Yes it tends to be true that the plus sized woman want to cover up more than a "normal sized" woman. But is there something about a plus sized woman that should be covered up? To me watching this was not only disheartening but it was a shout out to me that the view of fatter or plus sized women is really quite skewed.




We all fall victim to laughing at bigger women from time to time. Heck, we fall victim to feeling ashamed and undeserving if we happen to be one of those plus sized women. Shopping in situations like this really aggravates a feeling of self loathing and can even be plain depressing.


A couple of months ago a male coworker of mine pointed out that a larger female worker's underwear was showing and was laughing at her histerically and commenting on how "disturbing" it was considering the size of her buttocks. Whilst I obviously don't suggest or condone wearing something at work that would cause that to happen, at the same time I know if the woman hadn't been the size that she was and was perhaps slimmer then he would have had nothing to laugh at; in fact he would have probably liked it.


WHY the double standards?


I went shopping for a bathing suit relatively recently myself. I can wear a variety of sizes depending upon the bathing suit, material etc. So this can range from Medium to XL. I tried on about 5 pieces. I was determined to find a 2 piece bikini ( for the first time EVER) that I felt good in. Every piece I tried on, the top piece was either just right or slightly bigger than I needed and the bottom piece was too small. The thing about these standardized commercial sizes is that NOT every woman fits into this generic mold. Some women are bigger on the bottom, others bigger on top; some are tall, others are short. We need to make commercial clothing more accessible to women of all shapes and sizes. We are all unique. When we go shopping and are faced with sizes that don't fit, it is disheartening to say the least. In the end I ended up buying a whole piece with the sides of it cut out. Very sexy but I wasn't sold on it in the store. Only when I got home did I figure it was the best choice for me. Sexy but with the little more coverage that I wanted. Just because I got one ( a bathing suit) that I liked doesn't mean I wasn't upset that the XL bottom pieces were too small for me and the L top pieces too big. 


This has been a bit one sided so far in my references to fatter women but I am not just referring to clothes for more voluptuous women. I am talking about clothing availability to taller women, and especially shorter women. I cannot count the number of times I have either not bought something or simply been frustrated with a purchase knowing that no matter what I am going to have to hem it. Not all women are tall and slim.Nothing is wrong with tall and slim, all bodies are beautiful but there must be a balance.


I have a really good friend who is smaller, She can wear a Small to a XSmall. Shopping is a stressful and a saddening affair for her too. Relatively recently we went into a store that had a sale. Everything $10 US. Awesome..we were so excited. When we went in we realized that most of the clothes were Medium -Large. Even the Smalls were actually quite big. She was very sad and disheartened. I realized then that other women had issues with finding the "right size" when shopping.  I guess I didn't really realize it extended to smaller women too. Some women who are short and petite are forced to shop in the children's section. Really? The children's department? Something needs to be done about this ladies. We need to say to these clothing companies that this is not right. That all women of all sizes are important and need to be counted. We shouldn't have to settle. We don't fit into a little box of what we should look like. But thats ok because we love who we are and we are beautiful.


There is no NORMAL SIZE, THERE IS no PLUS size. There is only human. We are all women! We are all different, We all have different body shapes. There should be clothes readily available to all of us in all sizes. Buying clothing should not be a stressful ordeal.


LOVE YOUR BODY, even when the commercial world tries to tell you you shouldn't ; love it anyway. YOU ARE DESERVING! YOU only have one life to live and only ONE body to live it in. LOVE IT.