Perhaps their critics thought they would stay silent and resume their diets in shame.
But after recent public outcry over the rapidly growing popularity of a retail chain for plus-size young women, the girls who can’t wriggle into a Size 6 at Banana Republic are not apologizing.
The nationwide chain, called Torrid, has suburban locations in Orland Park and Schaumburg. Another location will open soon in Vernon Hills. The chain, which opened in 2001, outfits women sizes 12 to 26 in a selection of lacy tank tops and tailored power suits that are usually available only to their smaller counterparts.
While plus-size young women are raving about finally being able to shop for fashionable clothes that fit, others are carrying on about how Torrid and other fat-friendly businesses are encouraging unhealthiness.
“Do we really want to make obesity so socially acceptable that we reduce incentives to lose weight?” commentator Lawrence Goodman wrote recently in Newsweek International. This was after he clarified for readers that he is not overweight, but has “a great deal of sympathy for the heavyset.”
Goodman went on to say that he had been to a Torrid location near his home in Rhode Island and had seen a lot of “how should I put it–well, fat teenage girls.” The excursion prompted him to make the proclamation, “obesity isn’t a lifestyle choice that we should accept and celebrate.”
There is a shred of validity to Goodman’s argument. Obesity is a problem in America. About 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight, and, of that group, about 30 percent are obese, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among America’s 6- to 19-year-olds, 16 percent are considered overweight, and another 15 percent are at risk of becoming overweight.
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I see Goodman’s point. But this is, after all, a free society. Who is anyone to tell another person what size she should be, let alone limit her options as a consumer as an “incentive” to reduce that size?
As Wendy McLure, author of weight loss memoir “I’m Not the New Me,” wrote in a recent posting on her Web site, poundy.com: “Every time I read some hand-wringing comment about how Size 20 halter tops can only encourage rampant epidemic statistical-life-expectancy-altering morbid obesity, I can’t help but think the concern is a little misplaced: that it’s not so much about the size of the damn halter top but who it’s for.”
People have to get dressed, and no matter what size you are, you have just as much right as anyone else to have access to comfortable, stylish clothes that flatter your body.
Stephanie Sack, owner of hip Bucktown plus-size store Vive La Femme, said, “In my experience, no one can show up naked for work or school.”
Sack, who has heard the obesity criticisms many times, said she was under the impression that America was a free-market society. “Plus-size women have money to spend on clothes,” she said. “If designers refuse to serve this market, they will lose out economically.”
The thing that upsets me most about the logic of people like Goodman is the idea that larger Americans should be ashamed of themselves.
There are plenty of people doing more damage to the public good than overweight Americans. What about reckless drivers, drug dealers or child abusers?
And who says that body size is even indicative of health? I know plenty of 120-pound girls who spend their weekends obliterating their livers at bars or 170-pound men who eat fast food every day. Body size is dependent on much more complex factors than whether or not you overeat.
People like Goodman should mind their own business and find more worthy causes to champion.
“Whether you are a Size 2 or 22, that is between you and your health professional,” Sack said. “Life is hard; shopping shouldn’t be.”
Amen.
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