On May 21st, a disheartening discovery was brought to life on a Facebook post by Missy Rogers. This post went viral overnight and now has over 75,000 shares. Missy shared her story about her going to American Eagle only to find out that instead of needing a size four pair of shorts like she normally would have gotten, she needed to get a size ten. The size four would not even make it over her knees. This discovery made her question how much weight she had gained in a years time. She took the size ten shorts home and compared them to her size four shorts from the previous year. This is what she found:

As you can see from the picture, both pairs of shorts have the same waist line and width. The only difference for Missy is the year she bought them, length and a slightly different style/material she said. This is incredible honestly. What message is this sending women all over the world? The media is all about promoting "the perfect body image" and saying that the smaller you are means the more beautiful you are. Now different clothing lines are trying to make us feel bad about ourselves by the size we wear as well? All clothes are different no matter where we go. You could be a size four at Target, but then you go to American Eagle and you're a size twelve. You can try on a different style and the sizes won't match up. This is why numbers shouldn't matter! Beauty comes from being confident in your own skin and wearing the clothes that you feel comfortable in. I've seen too many people these days try and squeeze into shorts that might be a little too tight for them just because they think a smaller size is a better size. Instead, it should be what fits and makes us comfortable. Why buy shorts that kind of fit, but you have to keep pulling them down all of the time or your butt cheeks are going to show? It's because these girls don't feel beautiful in the size ten, but if it's what a size four used to be what message is being said here by our clothing market? Just to be clear, this is not an article shaming American Eagle. I for one absolutely love AEO, but unfortunately this is just an instance where something was brought to attention at their store.

Overall, we are all missing the bigger picture. As Missy said, a size does not describe your beauty, health or body. It is a number on a tag. Instead of worrying about the number, find clothes that you feel confident, comfortable and beautiful in. More importantly though, find clothes that make you who you are. Everyone is unique and more than just a number.

The next time you go to the store to buy a new pair of jeans, shorts, shirt, dress etc. don't worry about the size. Thanks to Missy's post, we can see how screwed up the sizing system really is. Instead, buy the clothes you love and that fit comfortably. Buy the clothes that make you feel beautiful no matter what the size says.