Help those who can’t help themselves….
BY KRISTEN LAMB
Over the past couple decades, America just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Part of the problem is the food. With all the crap, chemicals, irradiation and genetic engineering, it’s hard to get food that’s non-toxic. We also lead faster-paced lives and do too much eating out. But what if something else is causing this?
Is the pressure to be thin too much? The actresses and models get skinnier and skinnier by the year. When did ZERO become a SIZE?
I happen to be a size 6-8-10-12-14-16-22 depending on where I shop (Um, some consistency, please?)
And then, when I DO finally get drunk enough the urge to shop, I am greeted with this:
When did matchsticks become sexy?
And then THIS:
Huh?
Whatever happened to wanting to look like Marilyn Monroe or Jane Mansfield? Women used to be soft and curvy and sexy. Now we aspire to look like the sliver of wood that holds together hors d’oeuvres we’re too scared to eat?
Because we would be SO FAT! Like, a size SIX!
MOOOOOOOO!!!!!
I knew that the fashion industry was creating a body-dysmorphia problem of epic proportions, but I didn’t know how bad it was until I saw THIS:
I don’t eat. I’m disciplined, but I can’t *SOBS* I just can’t!
We thought anorexia and bulemia among young girls and women was bad, but now body issues are now even affecting inanimate objects. The mannequins are getting fatter and can’t keep up with the ever-shrinking sizes.
When I interviewed this poor mannequin (we will call her “Sheila” to protect her identity), she claimed the pressure to be perfect all the time was too much. She’s supposed to just stand there and be ogled for NO PAY, and now apparently a Size Zero is FAT.
Sheila is a Size Zero, but this store forced her to model the newest size/fashion craze…a Size Negative Three. The store believed that if the clothes were tight, Sheila would stop being such an undisciplined pig and lose weight. Everyone walking by would see her bulging sweater and then maybe she would stop stuffing her non-existent face.
Save the mannequins. It’s bad enough that men, women and children are suffering with body image issues, but we have rights. Mannequins like Sheila have no voice (likely due, in part to the lack of a head). Sheila needs us to CARE!
Boycott Matchstick Jeans and Toothpick Pants! The fashion industry has lost its ever-loving MIND and people are hurting enough, why should people of plastic and foam suffer, too?
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Kristen Lamb is the author of the #1 best-selling books We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer. Feel free to follow her weekday blog or find her on and . Kristen is the C.E.O. of WANA International and the founder of the social site for creatives, WANATribe.
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