As a bigger girl, it’s always been hard to find cute clothes that, not only fit, also look good on me. It got to the point that, in my early teens, shopping would be a depressing event and often leave me incredibly sad afterwards when nothing fit.
Nowadays, I’ve found that clothes come in bigger sizes than they used to. Shopping at clothing stores such as Ardenes and Stitches would be a chore because even their “largest” sizes wouldn’t fit but now I can say that, most of the time, I’m a medium at most stores I shop at. Shopping has now become one of my favourite activities.
Body positivity and learning to love yourself has become a big thing these days. You see people in all shapes and sizes in the public eye, proud of whom they are. Shaming someone for being “too big” almost seems like a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, not everyone thinks this way. Some clothing stores still cling to the idea that “skinny is better”. Urban Outfitters, a popular clothing store chain started selling a shirt with the words “Eat Less” on it. People were outraged by this shirt that practically supported anorexia. One Tree Hill star, Sophia Bush, started boycotting the store saying that, “Perhaps some of the American population could stand to take the shirt’s advice, but for those impressionable teens who shop at Urban Outfitters, its message is more pro-anorexia than anything, especially when worn by an emaciated model.” Urban Outfitters has since pulled the tee from their online shop but from what I know, they still sell it in their stores.
This isn’t the only time a clothing store has done something controversial. This spring, it came out that Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, Michael Jeffries, only wants “cool” kids to buy his clothes (which is funny, since the guy looks like a very ugly Gary Busey), explaining why the store and its other brand, Hollister Co., doesn’t sell clothing sizes bigger than a large (a very small large) and the biggest their jean sizes go is a 10, which is supposedly three sizes short of the national average size.
It’s fat-shaming, body-shaming like this is the reason I’m no longer going to be shopping at these stores. And I’m not the only one as many people have also pledged to boycott these businesses.
You have to learn to love yourself to be truly happy and, sure, there will always be horrible people telling you that you look “wrong” but, honestly, they’re wrong. There’s no rulebook as to what a person’s supposed to look like and if everyone looked the same it’d just be boring. So go out there and be yourself, no matter what anyone tells you.
