Anyone who has ever shopped for clothing raise your hand.
Wow! That's quite an overwhelming majority. Oh, wait. Not just a majority, that's all of us! Then all of us know how ludicrous the sizing of women's clothing is. We all know there are as many definitions of any given clothing size as there are clothing brands.
This graphic shows how not only is there a difference from designer to designer, but even within the same brand the same size number on the clothing tag can mean different things. Then there are these two charts that show how sizing has changed from 1958 when they first tried to standardize women's clothing sizes up to 2011.
As frustrating as it is to try to guess what size to pull off the rack when we're clothes shopping, what's way worse is the message being sent by the way sizing is trending and the language used around it. Let's touch on the language first.
How often have you said, or heard someone else say, "I'm a size fill in the blank?" Can you hear how that wording reduces a person to a clothing size? When I hear language like that I want to say, and depending on how well I know the person or how sassy I'm feeling, I will say, "No! You are not a size whatever! You are a wonderful, multi-facted person who wears some company's idea of a clothing size. You're so much more that a number on a tag!"
Enough of that soap box. Let's move on to the message of the way sizing is trending.
A person who wore size eight back in the day would now need to buy a size 00 or smaller for the same fit. And? So? The reason this matters is because of what it's saying. In the clothing industry, it's called "vanity sizing" and they say it's used because it's what women want. I can't argue with that. Most women I know, and I'm talking about smart, independent, well-grounded women, would rather be able to say they wear a size eight than a size sixteen. But, why?
We have been, and still are being, culturally conditioned to believe the less space a woman takes up, the better. And we're not just talking about physical space. Let's jump back to language for a second. Remember how so many people identify with their clothing size?
"I'm a zero."
What can a thought like that do to a person?
These lower and lower values of clothing sizes feel less and less substantial. Doesn't 00 feel much less substantial than 8? The trend of this kind of numbering continues the conditioning that being smaller, less substantial, and taking up less space are desirable things. This is what breaks my heart about this. This is why it matters that the dress that used to be labeled 8 is now labeled 00 or smaller.
In reality, the number assigned to a size is completely arbitrary. Think about it. What if clothing sizes started at newborn size and then just kept going up from there? No baby sizes, toddler sizes, kid, youth, junior, or adult sizes - just a progression from baby on up. Maybe with a scale like that adult sizes would be up in the hundreds. That's just one example of all the possible methods for size numbering, and is brought up only to make the point that the only meaning a clothing size has is the meaning we assign to it.
Whatever clothing size fits your body, I offer you two invitations.
1) Do everything you can to release any power that number may have over your heart and mind. You are not your clothing size!
2) Reject attitudes, anywhere you find them, that value small over healthy - whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, or any other way.
In a culture trying to convince us to be small, let's not be afraid to take up space.