I was not arguing that clothing made for people who are your size should not exist. I was saying that labelling it a “size 0″ is ridiculous.

We have that size clothing over here, but rather than being a “0″, it’s a 4-6.

“This is not a problem thin women have, so to say that the article should have addressed thin women, too, is ridiculous.”

This is just wrong. I have seen many a thin woman (well, I just finished high school, so mostly thin girls) wearing jeans far too small that distorted her body shape. I for a long time could not figure out why this was, though a commentor above mentioned it happens to her because her fat is in her stomach… this probably is the case a lot of the time, and makes sense compared to my own experience of having the opposite problem (pants with waaaay too much room around the waist because all my fat is in my butt. No, all of it–my butt is six inches bigger than my bust, and I have a size-4-or-6 frame overall (usually, depending on the cut), so it is way noticeable. I don’t mind it aesthetically, but practically it makes pants-shopping difficult).

I realize the lower-rise jeans are more comfortable – I wear ‘em too. But I also wear a top that covers the skin between because I know that showing that muffin top (or, in my case, a dozen muffins! :) ) is simply not flattering. It makes a woman – no matter if she’s a size 2 or a size 32 – look larger than she is because that “splooge” of skin and fat makes it look like her clothing does not fit.

I’m all about women embracing their bodies and feeling comfortable – love your body, but dress it in a flattering way. This doesn’t mean mumus and tents, seriously. But draw attention to your assets – maybe it’s your face, your smile, your chest, that narrow part of your torso below your breasts. It’s not about making people who mock us more comfortable, it’s about dressing your body in a way that makes it look long and lean and gorgeous. The stuff is out there. Any woman who is not that “normal type” – whether she be too tall, too wide, too petite, whatever – will have to work harder. This is an unfortunate reality. I try on at least five times the amount of clothing than I acutally buy. I scour Lane Bryant, Avenue and the internet and I own a TON of clothing that fits me well and is flattering.

I’ve been fat my entire life and I wince when I walk down the street and see the muffin top. I don’t wince because it’s fat (hello kettle, this is pot), I wince because I know that woman could dress herself in a way that would look so much better, would garner compliments, and would make her feel better.

Maybe it’s just that I watch too much What Not to Wear or am simply uncomfortable with showing my flab to the world. This is true. But I guess I just don’t understand why anyone would choose to dress in a way that is unflattering. If this is okay, why don’t we all go back to tapered-leg acid-washed jeans and huge shoulder pads? We all know THAT totally worked. :)

My closet includes clothes ranging from a size 4 all the way up to a size 10.

Wow. All the way up to, hunh? Enormous. Shocking.

And unless, where you come from, there are a lot of cultural messages that nobody will ever love anyone who stands in a hole, I consider that a fairly clear difference.

Okay, that was hilarious.

My sister, who dances 6-7 days out of the week – she can find clothing. Lots of clothing, if her closet is any indication. Because she’s tall, thin, and leggy, with not an ounce of fat anywhere on her body. And that’s what they’re designing for.

Hourglass figures my ass. When I go shopping, I’m lucky if I can find one style of pants that fits, and maybe two dresses.

The last picture, the one of the “looks fat” thin girl, was not in the printed article. Also, the second picture that shows the FACE of the woman, is supposed to be an example of a fat girl who is wearing clothes that FIT her. Of course, it’s impossible to tell in the internet article, because they just shove all the accompanying pictures to the side and let YOU figure it out.

LA Times online is awful. This happens all the time.

Two of the boys interviewed are assholes that say fat women are “disgusting,” sure. But that doesn’t seem to be the trend of the article other than those two boys.

Again, I was definitely given a bad taste in my mouth while reading the article, but it DID elaborate on how few women fit the hourglass “ideal” that clothesmakers use, and how very hard it is for teenagers in particular to be fashionable and wear these fashions well when they were absolutely not designed for anyone who is not very tall and very thin. As an adult, it’s a bit easier for me to just poo-poo the trends and wear what I think looks best, but I do live in LA, and I do think there is a lot of pressure on young girls to wear what’s trendy, not what’s comfortable.