The Daily Mail- the British rag I love to hate- has a piece out today about size 12 women (approximately the equivalent of a U.S. women's size 8) and whether this is the "perfect" size. It features short pieces from five different cis women who fit that size, with their height, weight, and waist measurements listed, and then gives each of the women an opportunity to comment on her feelings about her body.
I'm somewhat ambivalent about this article. On one hand, why is it that articles like these are always about bodies? Why can't articles like these focus on other body shapes and sizes- including bodies that are considered plus sized? On the other hand, there's part of me that was excited by the display of measurements and photos...because it emphasized the diversity that bodies create. Not all people wearing the same size are built the same. I'd have loved to see more emphasis on that.
Erica, when you said, "why is it that articles like these are always about bodies? Why can't articles like these focus on other body shapes and sizes- including bodies that are considered plus sized?" I couldn't see the difference between talking about bodies and talking about body shapes and sizes. Could you expand and explain a bit?
ReplyDeleteWhoops, sorry, thought my reply went up on the 13th. The questions weren't intended to be parts of the same line of thought- they were intended as separate thoughts. So why are we always focusing on bodies? And if we're always going to focus on bodies, why do we always have to focus on the attainment of a ridiculously unattainable norm?
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