Hello Beautiful- Excuse me, Whiny? Plus Size women are NOT
I start this off shaking my head as I read this article with disgust… yesterday, I had the pleasure of stumbling over to Hello Beautiful, when this title stopped me in my tracks. It read:
Plus- Size Women are Too Whiny!
Yeah.
So I read on, trying to read through, into and under the lines, to really understand where this writer, Alyssa Manners, is coming from. The beginning of the article gets me:
Complain, complain, complain. That’s all plus-size women do. It’s bad enough they want to share clubs with us, but they take up opportune shopping space in our stores and squeeze into the tightest seats on the bus. And aren’t there enough specialty stores, magazines, and even runways for them? They’ve got it all!
Will plus-size women ever stop complaining?
I am not lying. Yes, this writer continued to elude to the “whining” that us plus size women do, but she did try to justify by finishing her post with “but until the playing field is leveled, might as well invest in some ear plugs ’cause the fight will continue to wage on!”
My Response?
Plus Size women are not whiny! We have a voice. When we see something that sears us to the core, or perceive some sort of injustice, we speak up about it. Just like with any other injustice that any other group may endure, but in no way does that represent the entire plus size population…
What is it that we are frustrated with?
- Society’s perception of being unhealthy- Not EVERY full figured beauty is unhealthy! We do not always sit on our on derrière, in front of the television, with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, unkempt, YET we are constantly portrayed as such
- The lack of equal high- fashion access- Please read My letter to the retail industry for this one
- No we do not all hate on the Skinny B@*ch, some of us have no problems with those who may sport a more svelte figure- and it is okay
- We are not all depressed and sad about life. Yes we have our womanly moments where we may feel down about this or that, but in no way should this be misconstrued as some self deprecating frustration about ourselves. Some of us are proudly Curvy.Confident.Chic. and love our curves and live life to its fullest- just with a lil more of me to love!
What frustrates me about this post is the lack of understanding, the humor infused, stereotypical points that we hear all the time. Why play into these? To get a rise from us to prove your point?
Towards the end of the post, you try to explain away why we could or would be frustrated, but it sounds more like one’s own personal thoughts, rather than digging beyond society’s surface to find out what is really going on…
I am irked. If you have not read the article already, please do so now and share your thoughts!
Feed your fashion appetite with more:
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Copyright © 2010 · All Rights Reserved · 
Why does it seem that when the Plus Size Community voices our opinions on something or we’re a proponent to something positive, we have to position ourselves to defend ourselves too?
I try to ignore this stuff and get on with creating wonderful things for the Plus Size Woman. The Skinny Ones who don’t get it are the ones who are whining. And if we stop defending ourselves and focus on continuing this positive movement they will be the only ones left whining…
I read this article and I’m pretty certain that the author is making the same point as you. I think she’s saying that plus size women are accused of “whining” and may seem like they’re “complaining” – but the truth is that they have many reasons to complain. Like this paragraph:
“Why do you ask? Well, to put it simply, plus-size women are always the “butt” of jokes, (i.e., Mo’Nique, who uses jokes about herself as a defense mechanism), and don’t receive the same caliber of clothing, treatment, or respect as everyone else.”
i agree with the above poster. it’s not a very well-written article, but the intro that offends you was meant to be tongue and cheek. the real point is that plus-size fashion still has a long way to go to be comparable in style or quality with normal or petite sizes.
I totally have to agree with the previous two comments, after reading this article, it’s fairly obvious that this is a sarcastic opener to an article speaking about the fact that plus-size fashion does need to have more options. Her statements about Karl Lagerfelds comments make her point very clear. Perhaps she could have written this clearer, even with the sarcastic opener, but she is making the same point as you.
@meghan and @hsofia I agree with you wholeheartedly, and after reading and rereading this initial post, I think the wit and the lines could have been delivered in a more smooth and clever way…
@bs7 I suppose we are making the same point, it was just hard to get through it all and read through the sarcasm… which I usually love, this just hit a little too close to being rude, rather than read sarcastically…
When I originally read this post on Hello Beautiful I too was going to post it and then I read how she went from one arguement to the complete opposite arguement in the same article, so I read it again. After reading it a second time, I realized that she did not write it to offend but to make people think, so I completely understand how her initial focus could’ve been unclear.
With that being said, I think you did a great job of responding but I wonder, As plus size women or any group that society constantly attempts to ostracize, Are we more sensitive than we need to be at times? Is it justified? Or a combination of both?