How Skinny Do They Have to Be?

Have you ever wonder how men have pulled it off? How is it that we have created a fashion style where guys can wear big, loose, baggy clothes, but girls need to wear tight, or revealing clothes?

Our young girls are buying into the unrealistic expectations of what they are “supposed” to look like.”

I was shopping in a store for my wife the other day (her birthday coming up), and asked what size shirt was up on display on the mannequin (it was the last one left). The sales clerk told me X-small (the size I was looking for). She told me she couuld get it for me, but she needed to take out all the pins holding the “excess” shirt back. She commented, “You should see how skinny these mannequins are that corporate sends us. All the X-small clothes fall right off them. We need to pin everything back to make it look how it would actually look on an X-small girl.”

I came home and saw this add from another company.

Super Skinny? Maybe we should just call it “Bulimic Jeans.”

How skinny are we trying to make our kids?

I remember last December reading an article about the pressure to look perfect driving girls to destructive behavior. Here’s a glimpse:

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is partnering with the entertainment industry to address this issue by giving girls a reality check educating them about what images are real versus Hollywood magic. This global program is especially relevant as girls today are measuring themselves against impossible beauty ideals… The new campaign was developed to help girls realize what they see in movies and magazines represents an unrealistic standard of beauty, not an everyday achievable look.

Hmmmmmmm.