Everyone has a list of pet peeves. Mine is a run-of-the-mill list full of classic examples. The screech chalk makes on the blackboard, evildoers who take food off my plate without asking first, and (a little more personal to me) department store mannequins.
I can’t possibly be the only one. They have no face; they are humanoid yet deathly stationary. And because I am 5 foot 3 inches, they ominously loom over me. Mannequins are just socially acceptable and unfairly fashionable Slender Man.
But beyond their creepy and psychologically unsettling characteristics, the most serious reason why I genuinely don’t like them is because they’re all skinny. No matter which store I go or which mall I visit, all of the mannequins are thin and dainty.
Disclaimer: Before I get into this issue, I am not skinny shaming. Skinny shaming is putting down those who are slimmer by expressing disdain for their being skinny and dismissively stating that they should not be worried about how they look. It’s an unfortunate and overlooked consequence of trying to combat fat shaming.
The reason why I am upset is because of how unrealistic the mannequins are. Every single one is built the same: tall, lean, and with perfect proportions. Wherever clothes are being sold, this is the only mannequin present. Considering this day and age, the domination of skinny mannequins is not alarming. Media today basically vomits, “Be skinny!” at us. Photoshopped pictures of models are rampant, magazines are obsessed with the “perfect diet," and the majority of movies portray only perfectly fit actresses. The mannequins are just another aspect of this monopoly on body image and the definition of beauty.
Women are expected to have the perfect body, and we never forget that when we go shopping. “This shirt is pretty, but it doesn’t look good on me. It looks better on that mannequin. Must be because I’m not skinny.” For years as I battled self-hatred, this is what I thought. “I’m not beautiful because I’m not skinny. And that mannequin proves it.” I know that it’s untrue, but having that mannequin in front of me makes it hard to believe otherwise. It’s an unfortunate yet effective means to regulate what we see as “ideal.”
But why do we have to go through this restraint? Why in the world does every single mannequin have to be the same when that’s literally the opposite of what women are? I know that this would be difficult to change, but mannequins should come in every shape and size. In addition to skinny mannequins, we need heavy mannequins, athletic mannequins, and curvy mannequins just as well. Every woman should be represented and not left out. There is no need to exclude any body types and be told what we need to do to be beautiful; we already are.
