Facebook is one of my favorite pastimes seeing as you never truly know what you're going to stumble upon when you begin scrolling through your feed.
You are promised to get a handful of political arguments and blurbs about how Trump is ruining America, the occasional cute puppy video, and a series of clips of seemingly delicious cooking videos that make everything seem easier to cook than they realistically are.
However, the other day, my normal scroll through my feed of family and friends sharing their photos and ideas was interrupted by something that spoke to me — and I'm sure millions of other girls that came across it. A woman by the name of Cheyenne Storm Spence posted these photos below. Her message attached to these photos reads: "I feel like I need to point this out cause I am just blown away. All three pairs of shorts you see I bought from American Eagle.
The beige ones 5 years ago. The blue ones 2 years ago, and the burgundy just a week ago. Believe it or not, the beige shorts are a size 0. Although they look bigger than the rest. The blue ones are also a size zero.
However, the burgundy ones that I just got last week are a size four. Size has never really mattered to me, I truly believed I had grown four sizes in two years, I was okay with that, but I can only imagine how this affects others. No, the size of your pants does not define you but companies like these have changed their sizes this much in just a couple of years. My hope is that people become aware and do not let the "size of their pants effect them.
Ladies, understand that the sizes have gotten smaller over the years, and for some people, this is a relief, as they needed the sizes to change to fit them. Just please don't be alarmed if you suddenly "moved up four sizes."
Now you can imagine what most girls are thinking when they read this... "oh, thank God!" I know I did.
However, this just draws our attention to a bigger issue. No one from any of these companies that play this game has made it public. That makes me physically sick. There are girls out there who truly go home devastated after having to move a size or two up, and the fact that these changes made to sizing haven't been made public up until this point is appalling. That is why I have chosen to share this not only on Facebook but on other platforms.
No girl should ever feel ashamed of their change in size. We are stuck in this era where everyone is promoting self-love and body positivity; but how are we supposed to do any of that when retailers around the world are doing everything in their power to prevent it? My hope goes hand in hand with Ms. Spence — that girls do see this and become aware of it.
This knowledge can change so many things if we let it be heard. Take it from a girl who thought she went from a size 6 to a size 10 in 4 months, we all deserve better. I'm not saying boycott American Eagle or any other retailer for that matter.
However, I truly believe promoting this awareness is crucial to the mental health of millions of girls out there.