PLUS Model Magazine has taken on the fashion industry and it's love of overly skinny models and clothing sizes. In a new campaign they publish pictures of a nude size 12 plus sized model. Each photo has statistics about the industry and the size of the models it uses.
Statistics used include:
Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.
Ten years ago plus-size models averaged between size 12 and 18. Today the need for size diversity within the plus-size modeling industry continues to be questioned. The majority of plus-size models on agency boards are between a size 6 and 14, while the customers continue to express their dissatisfaction.
Most runway models meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.
PLUS Model Magazine is getting mixed reviews of it's feature. Many support the magazine's critcisms of the fashion industry and designers and editor's use of models of an unhealthy and unattainable weight. It feeds into the messaging that girls and women get dozens of times each day...that their natural body isn't beautiful, and your ribs should be showing for any man to love you.
But they are also catching critcism from people saying that promoting obesity is just as dangerous as promoting anorexia. We are so concerned with undoing the damage from the overly skinny models and sizes that some have ignored the fact that while you should absolutely love yourself even if you aren't model-thin, obesity is equally unhealthy and shouldn't be celebrated either, nor pushed as an ideal body size. The truth lies in the middle.
The real issue is that our worth shouldn't be based on our appearance but by our character. Telling obese women there's nothing wrong with their bodies misses the mark. Their bodies shouldn't be the focus in the first place. It's true that your size should not determine your value. Women should love themselves, be confident and feel sexy no matter what. And the issue of promoting unhealthy body weights as ideal, regardless of whether it's skinny or heavy, won't go away until we quite defining women by the way we look and start valueing women by our character, intelligence, compassion, and contributions to society. Then, and only then, will we get past these body image issues.
That being said, I'm not sure that PLUS Model Magazine is promoting obesity. The model in their pictures is a size 12. That's a very reasonaable and healthy size. Marilyn Monroe was a size 12 and she's a beauty icon. I wouldn't necessarily say size 14 is obese...although it could be for shorter women. Size 18 and above does usually fall into, or close to the obese stage...and I say that as a woman in that size range.
I think their real point is that when a size 6 model is considered a plus sized model, we have a real problem in our society. A size 6 is still very skinny. And telling girls and women that if they are in a size 6 they are fat, or that the ideal size is a size 0...that's the real issue this magazine is tackling.
For more info on PLUS Model Magazine's feature and to see the rest of the photos read this article in the UK's Daily Mail and the editorial in PLUS Model Magazine.
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