Vanity Sizing In The Late 20th And 21st Century

When it comes to our bodies our society seems obsessed with numbers, whether it is with our BMI, weight or the numbers on clothing tags. Throughout the late 20th and 21st-century, society has made it clear that smaller is ‘better’. Over time this unhealthy and dangerous obsession has brought on a rather unusual side effect and it is called vanity sizing.

vanity sizing.

noun.

the practice of assigning smaller sizes to articles of manufactured clothing than is really the case, in order to encourage sales.

One would think today that we have made a turn for the better as social media and the news are filled with women of all shapes and sizes, social media seems to have allowed us to appreciate and accept more curvy women like Kim Kardashian,

Yet where is the customer going to purchase from? Where they are smaller, as smaller women are ‘more attractive’ or so we are told. This immoral practice is not acceptable as customers are being deceived by stores in order to boost sales. Retailers should be held accountable for their actions and the consequences — such as eating disorders that young females unknowingly fall prey to as they strive to be smaller and smaller. Sizing must be regulated more carefully, a universal sizing law being put into place across the world, so that when women see a tag they know that it is their size across every store, in every country across the globe, sizing should be

This obsession with impossibly small sizes is shown to young females every day leaving an impression on young minds, leading to an increase in mental disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia which can be fatal. While retailers are the ones that label bigger clothing with smaller sizes they are doing it to boost the shoppers’, our, self-esteem which shows that we are the ones who are creating this enormous and profitable market. Where do we get this unhealthy mindset? That answer seems to lie in social