Women and men both have size issues. For a woman, it is about the size of her body and for a man, it is about the size of his "body part."
Our country is obsessed with physical perfection and it is unhealthy.
But more importantly, the fat-phobia debate and fat bashing of women has gone too far.
Clearly, there is prejudice towards women of a larger size. For example, in the March issue of the journal Elsevier's Economics and Human Biology, a study revealed that overweight women get passed over for jobs and earn less.
Also, supermodel Tyra Banks once went "undercover" and dressed in a fat
suit. Banks was heartbroken by the insensitive and nauseating comments made about her "new weight."
Ironically size 14--yes 14!--is the most frequent size worn by a woman.
Here is some additional information about the size of women’s bodies in the U.S. The information was published in the New York Times and provided by a 2008 survey conducted by a market research company called Mintel:
• More than 41 percent of women in the U.S. are a size 14 or larger
• The weight of an average woman is 164.7 pounds
• 64 percent of American women are overweight
• More than one-third of women in the U.S. are obese
In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Queen Latifah said, "Plus-size is a word we need to bury at this point." Latifah
believes, as consumers, "larger girls" are disrespected.
The word plus-size needs to be removed from our vocabulary.
We do not analyze men’s bodies like this. Is he curvy or is he a
plus-size guy? This never happens.
Being overweight is an important health issue. However, shaming an overweight person is cruel. Using words like plus-size and fat is disrespectful.
Emme, former plus-size model and founder of the Body Image Council, said it best: "when addressing weight issues, we must be sensitive and compassionate."
Perceptions about larger women are changing very slowly. International magazines and runways are now hiring larger sized models.
In 2004, Dove launched the campaign called Real Beauty. The campaign featured and celebrated real women of different sizes and shapes. The Dove campaign reaffirmed women’s confidence about their size. The campaign said it was okay to be comfortable in your own skin, no matter what your size.
Women are beautiful - no matter their shape or size. Roseanne Barr, Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O’Donnell, Gabourey Sidibe,and Kirstie Alley are all beautiful and
worth more than their weight in gold.
Sources:
http://thelook.today.com/_news/2011/05/23/6702252-is-the-term-plus-size-offensive-queen-latifah-thinks-so
http://jezebel.com/5804574/queen-latifah-doesnt-like-the-term-plus-size
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32988925
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32584442
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33178280
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43141699/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01plussize-t.html
https://www.empowher.com/wellness/content/controversial-fatty-blog-post
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39868583/ns/today-today_health/t/fatties-blog-post-sets-online-uproar/
Reviewed May 24, 2011
Edited by Alison Stanton