Plus Sized Models are Bad for Women and the Magazine Industry
Plus sized models are classed as models sized UK 12 and above. Straight sized models are the standard fashion industry size, a UK size 8 and below. The average woman’s dress size in the UK is 16, so surely “plus sized” is just the norm?
Let’s face it, both the magazine industry and fashion industry’s end goal is to make money and the seemingly obvious way to do this is to cater to your audience. And so, if your audience is mostly size 16 women you will miss out if you chose not to cater for them or if you label them to a potentially hurtful category, plus size.
Most magazines today are filling their pages with women of all colour, shapes and sizes to promote body positivity in young women. But this might be causing more harm than good.
How can a young, body conscious girl feel good about herself when she sees a model that looks like her constantly labelled as “plus”? Why do they have to be called “plus sized” models when we don’t call a size 2 model a “small sized” model? Defining them in this way only makes it clear that a larger model is not the norm, and this is disastrous for body positivity. It doesn’t matter how many plus models you now add to your pages, you’ve already done the damage. Instead of promoting inclusivity magazines are now creating a bigger divide between women by using this term and categorizing women.
Models are now trying to get the term Curvy Models in use instead of Plus Sized as they are also suffering from the adverse effects of this unkind labelling, and sometimes mislabelling.
US Actress Amy Schumer was added to US Glamour’smagazine’s plus sized special edition without her consent, even though she’s a size 8, so not technically a plus sized model. Schumer expressed her concern that “young girls seeing my body type and thinking that it is plus size” would be bad for their self-worth. Model Myla Dalbesio, size 10, is Calvin Klein’s first plus sized model. There are many other examples of models being labelled as plus even though they don’t meet the requirements. This ruins what credit the plus sized label had as now young girls are being led to believe that any woman with a slight curve on them is “plus”.
Australian model Stefania Ferrario started the #DropThePlus movement to do away with the harmful segregation. It says that its main focus is the mental well-being of the general public and to see themselves as normal and not plus sized just because they’re bigger than a size 2 and they want people to know that “they’re all models, no matter what shape or size”.
Magazines have the power of having a great societal influence. So, if magazines started to replace the term “plus size models” with a preferred, friendlier alternative of “Curvy Models” or better yet, get rid of all labelling altogether, people would listen and learn from them.
People are not defined by their looks, and models should not be defined by their weight, but should be admired for their talents and achievements. Magazines need to stop focusing on “plus sized” and “straight sized” but instead talk only about models.
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