Plus Size Models? You Tell me!
So, have any of you read this article about the Glamour French plus-size model cover vs. the American plus-size model cover? I am sure even if the words were in english, you could tell the difference! We have been reading about this for a while... the supposed changing the model size BUT even our American plus size models have been described as size 12 & 14! That is no plus-size to me!!!!! I think of plus-size as what is shown on the French version of the magazine.
And as for the American version, one of those models is plus-size!!! OK, can you even guess which one is supposed to be plus-size? I can GUESS but if the other models were not there, I would not have thought twice about the model being plus size! I mean, is this absolutely f'in crazy!!!!!!
The article which I have put in full below says this:
"The magazine's June "size acceptance" issue features "plus-size" model Crystal Renn on the cover in a swimsuit alongside Victoria's Secret angel Alessandra Ambrosio and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Brooklyn Decker. Having a "plus-size" model on the cover of a magazine with other straight models is certainly a positive step, but not if you can't tell which model is the "plus-size" one. The magazine denies that any retouching was done to the image, but it seems pretty hard to believe to me."
From Jody: What does this say to women, young women & anyone else out there. If they are "telling" all the readers that whoever on that cover is a plus size person, well, they are just adding to the problems women face every day with body image and the pressures of size & weight & what we are "supposed to look like" in our society's version of plus vs. "thin", pretty vs. "average" I guess.
Josie from YumYucky wrote a great post about this not too long ago. She was talking about putting just regular every day people on the covers of the magazines we read like Fitness, Shape, Oxygen etc. Hey, I am all for that! Heck, I can't even get inside one! Yes, I am pretty fit but I am also 52 & work my butt off for it every day and have for years. Let's talk about people like Josie mentioned in her article or if I can be bold enough to say me, who has worked hard for years & then started to work harder as I went & still go thru perimenopause when things really get tougher than they already were to begin with! Maybe they don't think people want to hear how hard it is but why not be honest about it. IT IS HARD WORK!
You read about these celebs that do 3 days of yoga or 3 days of 20-30 minutes of cardio & maybe a couple sessions of using 3-5 pound weights & "stay in shape". Come on! Yes, a few I am sure work really hard but a lot, I don't know... Most of the people out there like us are not genetically blessed with being able to do that & look good! Most of us have to work our ass off to look decent! Let's celebrate the real people!
Here is the article: French Glamour Features Plus-Size Women – Not Models – in June Issue
Add French Glamour to the mix of international magazines embracing a wider definition of beauty. In its June issue the magazine features plus-size women – not models – discussing fashion. Finally a magazine that depicts real women!
The women featured are actually fashion bloggers – coined "fatshionistas" that explore plus-size fashion in the article, "Vive Les Fatshionistas!" Two of the women are U.S. "fatshionista" bloggers, one of who (Gabi) was listed as one of the top 50 influential bloggers by Times UK.
Earlier this year French Elle and Italian Vogue also included the "plus-size" perspective in their magazines, but French Glamour has done what none of these magazines has done before – featuring real life plus-size women.
This is something to truly be celebrated. "Plus-size" models may be "plus-size" by fashion industry standards, but more often than not do not represent real plus-size women. Giving these women a voice and face in a highly acclaimed magazine is a huge stepping stone in the road to altering the idea that thinness is equated with beauty.
Unfortunately, while we take two steps forward there always seems to be one step back. Unlike their French partners, American Glamour, the magazine that brought us Lizzi Miller and arguably the start of the "plus-size" magazine craze, didn't get it quite right this month.
The magazine's June "size acceptance" issue features "plus-size" model Crystal Renn on the cover in a swimsuit alongside Victoria's Secret angel Alessandra Ambrosio and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Brooklyn Decker. Having a "plus-size" model on the cover of a magazine with other straight models is certainly a positive step, but not if you can't tell which model is the "plus-size" one. The magazine denies that any retouching was done to the image, but it seems pretty hard to believe to me.
So, the article writer asks this: What do you think? Who do you think featured the "plus-size" perspective better? French or American Glamour?
I ask this: OK everyone, am I way off base? Do you agree with me? Can you see the plus-size model on the American cover? What are your thoughts on the whole plus-size model issue? I know what men would probably rather see & probably some women BUT do you think a majority of women might prefer more real to life models like people that have worked hard to look fit & healthy and we can relate to more, not those genetically blessed with beauty & a bod that does not take much to keep fit.... or do these "more perfect looking" models provide more incentive for you?
Tomorrow I am talking about how I define myself..... now this should be interesting! 
Categories: Fitness, Women Issues
Tags: acceptance plus-size Women Issues body image Glamour Magazine
I see a healthy-size model and two "under-sized" models.
I'd like to see a variety and all being presented as beautiful. I think healthy-weight/fit models inspire me more than skinny ones do. Undersized models are discouraging if that's all we see. I wouldn't completely eliminate skinny models because there are people out there like that, and they should be represented, too. (I know, I know, how "PC" of me).
Reply to this
Good points though Gina!
Reply to this
I wont rant...but shall just say Ive yet to really see many plus sized models and yet was ALWAYS SHOCKED how my clients who would self identify as plus sized didnt want to see more "healthy looking"models.
that always baffled me.
Reply to this
That baffles me!
Reply to this
No, I don't see a plus-size woman on that cover. In the magazine industry, the magazine's cover has to entice people to buy that month's issue. Sadly, I don't think the average person would purchase a magazine with a plus sized model on the cover if there were another publication with a thin model available. The consumer drives the industry.
Reply to this
It seems to me that the whole model industry mindset would need to change to see any real changes in this area. I don't know if it's really a simple thing or a very complicated thing.
Reply to this
I hear ya Dr. J! I think complicated as some women like to see this. Me, I am not really paying attention the the cover model for what I can achieve.. I am reading the mags for the health, nutrition & new exercise moves... yes, I may look if I know the person from TV but I realize that in most case, unrealistic for us. Crap, I am 5'1"! No models out there at that height on mag covers!
Reply to this
Well, the women on the US cover are average women. We need to stop calling them plus size because that would assume that smaller women are the norm (or "average").
Reply to this
Okay, this is one of the more F$%cked up elements of what we think of as fitness today. I say this not as a fitness trainer with decades of experience. but as the father of 20 year old woman who gets bombarded with unrealistic Madison Avenue propaganda week after week.
First, woman dress and build their bodies first, for other women -- not for men. The ideas and concepts they pursue though are so unrealistic these days (for the average woman) that "plus size", in any form, is too much a departure from a woman's established way of thinking.
It's entrenched in the psyche of the modern woman that unless you weigh 90 pounds and are made out of pipe-cleaners, you are fat.
So where am I going with this....?
Most women I have discussed the plus size model thing with have been both simultaneously comforted, and insulted by the concept. Mixed signals breed emotional instability and frustration which...... leads to poor body image, depression, and eating to escape depression which.... leads to seeking help from magazines which... only cause more depression.
So, Idon;t care who's on the cover of the magazine, the image is going to be counter-productive. Just my opinion Jody. Thanks.
Reply to this
I hear ya Roy.. you can read my reply to Dr. J. For me, if they put realistic people that are every day people that went thru the REAL motions of losing weight and/or staying fit PLUS made note of the REAL story within, I would like that. The models & athletes just don't show me what the every day people are going thru....
Reply to this
It really doesn't matter to me whose image is on the cover of a magazine. I know that the photos are "optimized" to sell. It does bother me, though, for young women who haven't quite made that connection yet and will likely fall into that unrealistic expectation mindset that can lead to all sorts of issues.
Reply to this
I agree Cammy!
Reply to this
You've gotta be frackin' kidding me. How absurd! Their plus sized model is NOT plus sized. She looks like a size 6 (maybe)!
Reply to this
As long as we keep buying magazines with those types of models...things won't change. We can say all we want but as long as we put our money there, we are saying its okay..in my opinion anyway!
Reply to this
Jules, I actually am looking for nutrition/health/new exercises when I buy the ones I read.. the cover model, irrelevant to me because I know ti is mostly unrealistic. I want it to change for the younger generation too... such a hard thing!
Reply to this
This really irritates me. There isn't a single plus size model on the American magazine cover. Grrr!
Reply to this