If you're reading this and you're a woman, I can guarantee you'll find this relatable. If you're a man, you might have a harder time relating to this. But if you're a man that has sisters or a girlfriend, you've probably noticed these things too.
What I'm talking about is how screwed up women's clothing sizes are. For men's clothing, it's much easier to figure out what size you are when you're trying on pants. Men's pants, specifically jeans, are sized by the waist and leg measurements. I have a few pairs of jeans that are sized this way, and it was much easier to find my size when I was searching for inches instead of these other random sizes that don't make any sense.
Let's think about it. What is a size 8? That doesn't make any sense. Labeling something as 25 inches would make things way easier. Do you know why it doesn't make any sense? Because when you're shopping for pants, there is absolutely no consistency. Even within the same store, a size 10 in one type of jeans is almost never the same as a size 10 in a different pair of jeans. Within the same store! Why do they do this to us?
There are so many reasons. In short, stores are using their sizes to manipulate the way we feel when we're trying on their clothes. Have you heard of vanity sizing? Ugh. What an issue. And what about those stores that use dysmorphic mirrors?? That's a topic for a whole other time.
If you haven't heard of vanity sizing, the basis is that a company will make a size 10 fit like a size 12, and they'll keep a size 10 label. That way if you're really a size 12 (which, how even are you supposed to know??) you think you're a size 10. Then, when you're shopping at other stores that don't use vanity sizing, you feel horrible because they're size 10 pants don't fit you, leading you to think you've gained weight and you need to go on
If you feel bad in stores that don't use vanity sizing, you're more likely to go back to the other store that DOES use vanity sizing. Make sense? They're totally manipulating us and making us all feel self-conscious and horrible about what size pants we were.
Which, if you haven't figured out by now, is all subjective and really means nothing. I own pants that are anywhere from a size 12 to a size 18. How outrageous is that?
I think I can speak on behalf of all of us women when I say we just want some consistency in our clothing. Many of us have enough issues with how we see our bodies already. Trying on clothes and finding something we like is already hard enough. Let's just have a general consensus of what a size 12 is, please. Thanks.
