by Jennifer Wagner

Created on: January 12, 2009

Beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes. I take offense to the skinny women that are hired to model plus sized clothing. It's as if the same big corporations that rely on plus sized women to buy their clothing, don't find them worthy of representing the very products they sell. Are these corporations trying to convey the message that big women are something to be ashamed of? That big women can't be beautiful? It is an insult to women everywhere that purchase merchandise from these companies. Plus sized clothing should be modeled by full figured women. Period.

Not all women can be slender, or petite, or perfectly proportioned. The sooner the media stops trying to portray women as having perfect bodies, the sooner society will accept that it's all rightfor women to have curves. When the true, message gets out that women have flaws, and aren't typically like the models we see everyday, young women all over the country will achieve a higher level of self worth. One would assume that the plus sized industry would understand this better than anyone else.

Flip through a magazine and you'll see pretty women everywhere. They are the focus of "what men want". These women are, almost without exclusion, thin. Rarely do we see a full figured girl as the subject to any article, other than how to loose weight. But it's a fact that the average American girl wears a size 12 or larger. Most women can't live up to the standards placed before them in fashion magazines. It's just not reality for most of us.

By placing thin models in the advertisements for plus size clothing, the industry is lying both to itself, and to it's customers. Are plus sized women stupid too? Do the executives of these companies honestly think that a plus women can't tell the difference between thin and fat? Or are they hoping that their customers will think that, they too, will look just as thin as the models if they buy their clothing. Please.

What we need is honesty. Plus sized women exist. You can't hide them, or ignore them. Discrimination against full figured, or overweight, women and men happens every single day. Sadly, it seems to be the one form of discrimination that is still widely accepted. The plus sized industry is guilty of it too, simply by not representing their clients with a true image of themselves. Full figured women are all around us, and if given the chance, they can be seen as the beautiful women that they are. Like it or not.

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