Recently I was on spring break, and my mom and I were looking through the little girl's clothes at Walmart to see if we saw anything my nieces might like, but what I saw was disgusting and gave me the realization as to why women have major body issues.
What did I see that gave me such a big distaste for Walmart? The large, extra large, and XXL sized clothes were labeled PLUS SIZE.
Yeah, you read that right, little girls are now being labeled plus size and it's disgusting. As someone who has struggled with body image my whole life, I couldn't help but hurt for the 10, 11, etc. little girls who go shopping and are told that they are now labeled as "plus size" at such a young age.
Society has such strict " standards" as to what a woman's body should look like, but is that what we should be teaching our daughter, granddaughters, nieces, etc? No, we should be teaching these young girls healthy habits, self-confidence, and to LOVE their bodies!
Hanah Jenkins
How do we address this situation and the growing trend in the United States?
First, I think we should change to a sizing system of complete numbers. There is no need to label girls as an extra small, medium, extra large, etc. based on the size of the clothes they wear. We can simply have them as numbers, and we don't even have to use waist sizes on girls clothes, we can just number them sizes one-five, or whatever numbers we need.
Second, I think we should start teaching body appreciation to girls. Do all girls know what the woman's body is capable of? Do they know that one day their body will be able to provide life to another human and make food to fully nourish it, regardless of what size clothes they are? Along with so many other powerful things that only a woman's body is capable of.
Lastly, I think we should teach them healthy habits. Teach young children what foods are good for you, that exercise is good and necessary, and how to live a healthy lifestyle without the pressure to be a certain size or look a certain way, and their future selves will thank you for it.
