Thoughts from a Plus Sized Blogger…

There are times in a writer’s life that we get so amped up about something we read that if don’t get it out we go nuts.  Well today was such a day for me so I apologize for my ranting. 

This morning while reading through my Google feeds, I came across Suze’s blog post on Refinery tweeting about plus size ladies size 10 and over having their own site.  Talk about craziness!  I thought it was absurd to consider a 10 plus size, especially considering that the average woman these days are a size 12.  I know awhile ago I ranted about the availability of sizes for women like me who are 14+ (I wear a 16 by the way).  Despite the fact that there are a lot of us who fit that category, we still don’t feel represented in main stream like we should.  I thought about adding my two cent to that in my own post but I said, “Nah”.  I left my comment and I was good.  Then this afternoon while going through Twitter, Stephanie from Loudmouth retweeted this blog post from Gala Darling called Body Pressure In the Blogosphere: Bloggers Speak Up (Part 1).  She rounded up some well known bloggers who gave their thoughts on body image, posting photos of ourselves, and what type of blogger image basically “sells” in terms of brand endorsements, traffic, and overall popularity.  I found it really insightful and felt happy to know that I wasn’t the only one who felt like this. 

After reading that I really felt like I needed to address this issue from the perspective of that curvy blogger who loves to try new trends and experiment with style but becomes disappointed when a lot of what I see wouldn’t fit her.  Can someone like me who wears a size that doesn’t seem to exist except for a handful of online and specialty stores achieve the same status of really big name bloggers?  Can I even get that dress from let’s say, Forever 21?  Uh, no because I already know they don’t carry it in my size.  Yeah I love stores like Ashley Stewart…but I don’t have the funds to shop in there like I want to (bigger the size, bigger the price tag)and um, they aren’t any in my county…See what I mean?

Like some people pointed out in Gala’s post, sure there are plus size models that we adore like Christina Hendricks and curvy celebs like Beyonce, but I can tell you right now, I am bigger than both of them.  There are some awesome curvy girl bloggers I follow as well, but honestly it’s a handful compared to the others.  Yes, ladies in my weight category aren’t in mainstream blogland and despite the fact that we fashion bloggers are making waves, we still have a long way to go when it comes to  girls like me.

With that said, I could complain, rant, and get depressed about this all day long.  I could get discouraged, stop posting outfit pictures, and just admire/envy from afar those bloggers who fit that beautiful and perfect mold that brands flock to and lavish with awesome gifts freebies and spreads.  I could wallow in my pity party (i.e eat cheesecake) and keep myself from doing what I love to do.

But that isn’t productive and in the end, it won’t change anything.

Let me tell you, posting my swimsuit post the other week was one of the most empowering things I have ever done.  For me that took a mess load of guts because my self-confidence and self-love is always a work in progress.  But man, wouldn’t it get a lot easier if there were more 14 plus girls getting out there and showing the fashion world that we are just a fly and just as marketable as the rest of them? If there were too many of us curvy ladies making an impact through our blogs, brands have no choice but to notice! If you read Suze’s post you know that after we bloggers raised our voices and said something, Refinery was quick to apologize.  We have more power than we know!  If we don’t speak up, they won’t hear us.

So I say to all of this, we need to keep talking about it.  We need to encourage those girls who think they don’t live up to industry standards to realize that they can make their own standards.  Keep posting those pictures because you want to.  Don’t fuss over being too thin or too chubby, too short, or too awkward.  You are you and there isn’t anyone out there like you.  That alone makes you stand out in this big old blogosphere.

My new thinking in life is that if a door of opportunity doesn’t open up for me, I will make my own door. 

So ladies let us make our own, curves and all.

Posted by MJ on June 16, 2011

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