By By CHRISTINA CLARK
Columnist
Coming home from my hoop dance class always has me in a good mood. I feel centered and happy, glad that my heart rate was kicked into high gear, and that I got to “play” and dance.
After doing my normal post-workout “shower, eat, drink and sit” routine, I found myself looking at a thread of comments on an advertisement for fitness attire. Now this attire comes from England, has different sizing, runs a little smaller and is pretty expensive. But it’s cute, so I keep it on my feed and on my radar hoping that they’ll someday have a clearance sale. Plus, it is almost the end of February and my New Year’s resolutions to lose weight are wearing thin. (Though meatless days still happen quite frequently!)
The advertisement in question showed a woman who was very fit, but not your typical model-thin woman advertising the new tops that were coming out as “plus-sized” workout gear. Looking at her from my view, I’d probably say she was around an American size 10 with a rather developed chest. Not really what I’d consider “plus-sized” but from the other ads and commentary I’d heard about this brand, they run on the small side. They’re supposed to be tight to help compress and burn more calories
The comments included such statements as “How is she plus-sized?” and “Plus-sized my arse!”, and the winner who said that she would “eat [her] shorts if that model is plus-sized!” Hopefully she isn’t in the mood for massive amounts of synthetic fiber. From just a bit of curiosity years ago, I know that plus-sized modeling can start at anywhere from a size six to size ten and up. The camera adds ten pounds I suppose.
The root of the problem here was the way it was stated. This woman was obviously the plus size the brand was looking for. But it was also a fitness ad. There needs to be less worry in women about what their “size” is. If you’re healthy, or at least comfortable in your body, then why let a little terminology get one all worked up?
I’ll admit, being a size twelve myself, I have body image issues. I did when I was thinner, I did when I was larger, and I just have them. But I’m hoping that if I can change my attitude a bit, then so can everyone else. The term “plus-sized” in this brand basically means if you aren’t a fitness guru or petite to begin with, you might want to try this size out.
But if you actually are plus-sized, or thin-sized, or petite-sized or round-sized, why does it matter? If you are moving your body every day, eating a healthy, balanced diet, your body will usually even everything out (barring medical issues). Nobody else needs to know that your workout top is built to burn extra calories, nor do they need to know that you might be a plus-sized person.
We tuck our tags for a reason. Nobody needs to know how big or small a clothing company deems you to be. All anybody really needs to know is that you look fabulous and you know it.
