In IGR classes, we have the opportunity to talk about all of the “isms”...but sizeism is one that doesn’t always get a lot of attention. From things like not being hired because of your size, to people making comments and assumptions about your health (whether you are “too think” or “too large”). Sizeism and issues surrounding body image are real and well in today’s society. I am going to focus on two current forms of size discrimination in retail.
The first of these current events is one of Urban Outfitter’s many controversial shirts. This retailer has been know to make controversial items in the past, but the one specifically related to sizeism is the grey v-neck that features the phrase “Eat Less” on the front. Actress Sophia Bush, after hearing about the shirt, decided to boycott Urban Outfitters and all of their products and make a public display of her discontent with the content of the shirt. In an open letter to Urban Outfitters, Bush expressed disbelief that the company would’ve voted “yes” on such a design.
In lieu of her passion against Urban Outfitters, she sported a shirt that says “0 is not a size”. Though I understand that she is trying to give support to bigger women (which is problematic in itself that she is only acknowledging body image with women), I feel that this shirt does not give people a more positive body image, however only ostracizes a different group of people. For example, there are many people who wear a size zero naturally and would love to gain weight but aren’t able to for a variety of reasons. Or, in my own process of recovery from an eating disorder, there have been several times where size zero pants were even a little loose on me - the message that Sophia Bush is sending would not have been empowering if I saw this while I was in that stage of my recovery. To me, it feels as though people trying to make positive body image campaigns, end up just trying to shift feelings of inadequacy to other groups of people. If having a washboard stomach isn’t “in” anymore, then it means I have to have really big curves.
A second current issue I would like to mention, is that of Abercrombie and Fitch and their refusal to sell size 10 and larger clothing. Additionally, they will not sell XL or XXL clothing for women because they don’t want women of that size wearing their clothing. It is rumored that they’ve kept XL and XXL Men’s sizes on the shelves in hopes of having bulky and muscular men wear their clothes. Furthermore, to keep their image, Abercrombie will not donate clothes that are damaged, but burn them to avoid people experiencing homelessness wearing their clothing. It is impossible to ignore that decisions like these not only disproportionately affect people of size, but discriminates against people of color who are more affected by homelessness than white folks.
The CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch was questioned about why they would make this decision even though the average size of a woman in the US is a 14. He responded by saying that “A lot of people don’t belong in their clothes” and that they were “absolutely” exclusionary. “We want to hire cool, good looking people”, he further stated. Actress Kristy Allen took a stance against Abercrombie saying that she would never buy clothes from Abercrombie and that she is learning how to love the way she looks now after 30 years of people telling her in Hollywood how she “should” look.
Though I would love to say that Abercrombie and Fitch and Urban Outfitters are just “behind the times” I think that issues like this are more prevalent than we tend to notice. Size discrimination and prejudice takes place in more than just retail clothing stores. It happens in the workplace, at restaurants, in daily interactions, the list goes on. However, I always think the first step to social change is realizing that there actually is a problem, and to move forward from there.
Articles for reading (some linked above):
Urban Outfitter’s:
Abercrombie and Fitch:
I did not realize that Urban Outfitters was so controversial, but I have heard about controversial things from Abercrombie and Fitch. It seems like these stores are more focused on the "ideal" boy image of white society. Maybe those are the customers that they want to focus on or the only group that they want to wear their clothing. I would like to know about some more stories and I want to know what other people thought about this story instead of just the thoughts from celebrities.
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