Plus-sized. It’s the one word that exerts different emotions from different people. Lately, most people have been using the term in order to make women of larger sizes feel more included in the “normal” world of fashion and lifestyle. However, being plus-sized isn’t something that should even have to have a movement.
Glancing around campus, I will be completely honest – I don’t see many plus-sized girls like myself. Maybe I’m not looking in the right place, or maybe I’m completely wrong in saying that CNU needs to jump on the plus-sized movement bandwagon but in a completely different way. Still, just like with our strides in equality for sexual orientation, we need to push for our plus-sized women to be integrated into society without even having to separate them in the first place.
This new blog series, which I’ve decided to title The Plus-Sized Personality, will focus on two things: the comical struggles of being plus-sized and the serious struggles of being plus-sized. However, I’m not just writing this in order for you to have a good laugh or feel pity.
I want you to see that we’re just like you.
We’re normal, too.
We love going to the beach, shopping, binge-watching Netflix… Some of us even like to work out (but I am most definitely not one of those people, unlike Jessamyn Stanley, who is featured below).
I applaud the real world for starting to come to terms with the fact that not selling “trendy” plus-sized clothing isn’t going to make us change our size. However, I also frown at it. We shouldn’t have to have a separate section at Forever 21 or have our own stand-alone stores like Torrid. Companies shouldn’t slander others that actually provide some of the most well-fitting lounge wear I’ve ever bought (I’m talking to you, Lane Bryant, and your attacks on Victoria’s Secret when even you make your models pose in ways that won’t show some of the most criticized parts of the plus-sized female body). Not all of us are a size 26, like the beautiful Tess Holliday; in fact, most of us are anywhere between a size 12 and 16 – and I know this because when I go to Old Navy to purchase jeans, there are never any in those sizes.
I applaud plus-sized women for finally realizing that it’s okay for them to wear what they desire because they deserve to. However, I also frown at it. Women (of all shapes and sizes) should know how to dress in a way that allows them to be viewed as respectable, no matter if she’s trying to be cute or comfy. I, personally, find it distasteful for a woman of plus-size to wear a crop top without something underneath it because we all know that as soon as she sits down, everything will roll over the top waistband of her jeans: If my 210 pound self won’t wear it, then neither should you.
We can look great:
And sometimes we don’t.
I applaud CNU for encouraging students to attend our school that are from all walks of life. But what I think we need the most now is to understand what being plus-sized actually means, and how we are all entering the part of our lives where we need to learn to be mature and accepting of others’ lifestyle choices as well as what they are born with. Destiny has a funny way of creeping up on us when we least expect it, and I know what mine entails.
Being plus-sized.
So, I invite you to follow me as I explore all of what it means to be a plus-sized woman at CNU and how we can expand our minds to not only think of plus-sized women as “normal,” but to not even differentiate between normality and abnormality as a whole, making our university one of the leaders in coexistence.