Size Matters

Well, first of all I'd like to apologise for not posting in so long.. I've been very busy.. doing nothing.

Secondly, I'd like to apologise in advanced if I make a ridiculous amount of typos.. it's so cold right now in my house that I'm surprised I can type at all... see it's winter and our amazing heater broke. >.> 

Now, onto the topic of my rant for today.. or.. tonight as it were. 

A while ago now.. like.. a long while ago - I've been meaning to post about this for SO long - I was reading an article in The Age (I'd like to give you the issue and date and such.. but I lost the paper it's been so long.. seriously, I read this article at like... the start of June) called Size Matters. It was just a short article, and it was talking about a fashion show called "Real Women" or something? I don't actually remember now that I think about it.. anyway, the point is, it was a fashion show for plus size women, and someone in the article was talking about how it's a clothing line for "real women" etc. 

So.. here is my beef with this article...

I know that generally, models are too skinny and they present an "unrealistic" image of what women should look like. There's been a lot of talk especially recently about how that unrealistic image needs to be gotten rid of, and how people should be comfortable with who they are etc. 

I do not disagree with this.. however.. it is possible people, believe it or not, to go too far the other way. 

There's a lot more catering now, for people who are different shapes and sizes, etc. This is good, people should be comfortable with who they are and their bodies.

BUT..  people also need to realise.. that being excessively overweight isn't healthy.

I know some people have quite a bit of trouble losing weight, but the way we're going, people are going to think there's nothing wrong with being overweight.. well THERE IS.

I know some people cannot be super duper thin anyway, and I'm not encouraging anyone to be deathly thin.. people naturally have different body shapes.. some people are naturally very curvy and even if they are a healthy weight, they will still be "bigger" than people of a different body shape. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But people.. there's a difference between being "big" and being just plain fat. We should be encouraged to be a healthy weight for our body type.. and encouraged to have a healthy life style.. so we can be happy with our bodies. Rather than just saying "IT'S OKAY TO BE REALLY FAT." because really.. it isn't. 

Like my wise friend Siobhan so wisely said:

  "I think they are trying to put the point across so much that they have actually lost the original message. Like, they started with "Its okay to be yourself kiddies!" but now they ended up saying "fat is cool" well not exactly fat is cool.. but you get the point."

I completely agree with what Siobhan said. Like so many other "movements" and such, some  people have just gone too far with this. I think it's great that a lot of companies, magazines etc are encouraging a more realistic image of what women look like but they have to make sure they don't take it too far or we'll end up with some other warped sense of what's 'realistic'.

Another thing.. I've noticed a lot of people having a go at people who are very skinny and saying that real women are curvy etc.

I'd like to point out firstly, that some people are naturally thin.

As a person who is naturally skinny myself, I actually find myself feeling self conscious about how thin and "un-curvy" I am when people talk about stuff like I mentioned before. I can't help being thin, it's who I am. When I hear some people talk about how women should be curvy and being "un-curvy" is unnatural blah, blah, blah, I in all honesty feel uncomfortable and a little self conscious. I get over it pretty quick, cause I'm generally happy with my body, but still.. not cool.

I cannot change my body shape, I have been very thin my whole life, I've never had a huge appetite, but I definitely do not have some kind of eating disorder, I in all honesty love food!

Is society going to go so far the other way that naturally thin people have some kind of reverse eating disorder because being naturally thin is no longer acceptable? 

I think the world of modelling and the media have given thin people a bad reputation in many people's eyes. I've had people think I have some kind of eating disorder and heaps of other obscure things. Guys.. I'm just skinny. I'm perfectly healthy, just thin. 
Oh and I don't mean people joking about how I should eat more and stuff, no.. I can take a joke. I don't mind people stirring, I don't mind if it's all in good fun! But I'm talking about people seriously thinking there's something wrong with me.

I know a lot of people who are overweight often have trouble finding clothing that fits them? WELL, I have the opposite problem. The more the industry allows for people who are overweight, the more they seem to make allowances for people who are not over weight. I sometimes find it difficult to find clothes that fit me, because they are all massively too big for me. 

I'm not saying sizes should be smaller and not allow for bigger people.. but is the industry trying to encourage people to be unhealthily overweight? 

I think it's very important for people to be happy with who they are, imperfect is the real perfect. But I think it's important we don't go too far the other way as far as being comfortable with whatever weight you are. 

I really feel like people are getting a bit carried away with this "it's okay to be curvy" thing. Yes it is okay to be curvy, but does that mean it's not okay to not be curvy? Is it okay to be unhealthily overweight?
We need to encourage being healthy, not being overweight. 


P.s Did I use the word curvy too much? Lololol.