I have been having a lot of frustrating with the clothing industry lately and how little girls are being prompted from the earliest ages to be little, petite, bags of bones. I’ve often wondered why I, as an adult female, can wear a Medium size shirt in the mens department, but, if I want a women’s size, I need an XL. I’m a geek, truly, and I often find myself pursuing in Hot Topic for shirts I like, and, again, I can wear a Medium in mens, but I need a 2XL or 3XL to wear the “womens” size there. I know Hot Topic primarily caters to teens and college kids, but, why are junior-esc sizes and grown men sizes the same for dudes, but the gals are supposed to be significantly smaller at the same age. And why is this disheartening trend already starting to happen in my kids’ clothing?!
I noticed my daughter running today, she just turned 7 mere days ago, and already her size 7 jeans are so tight that she can barely get them on. She has to suck in her gut just to button them. And I know she’s not big for her age, because the size 8 jeans drag the floor with what seems like three extra feet of fabric to spare.
I don’t encourage childhood obesity by any means, but I am curious as to why my 10 year old son will get a size 12-14 shirt and that garment is huge, baggy, and goes almost to his knees. To the contrary, my 7 year old daughter will wear a shirt size 8-10, and it barely covers her stomach, even though she is not even slightly overweight or tall for her age.
Let me show you some clothing examples. Pictures below is my daughter’s new Frozen shirt, which we could only find in a size 14-16. This shirt is designed to fit a high school girl who can drive! Underneath that is my son’s Despicable Me shirt, which is a size 10-12 in boys – so a boy in 4th/5th grade. Despite being TWO SIZES bigger, the Frozen shirt is still considerably smaller compared to the boys shirt.
It’s not just the shirts either. As I mentioned before, pants are a huge issue. My son’s still wearing size 8 pants at age 10. They are big and loose and full of room to grow. My daughter’s pants are skin tight, restrictive, and painful to wear. It’s a struggle to get them over her hips and after school she usually has them unbuttoned because she “can’t breathe.” In fact, she can’t even sit down without her buttcrack showing because they’re cut in such a moronic way – and it seems that all of her jeans and khakis are designed to do this!
Now let me compare Halloween costumes that are the same size, yet the wearers are 3 years apart:
Halloween costumes always seem to run a little small, but my son’s 8-10 Pokemon outfit is just a little short in the leg department. But, for Supergirl, and in an 8-10 size as well, I had to pin it shut because the back was too small to stay closed on its own. I also had to CUT the armbands from the top to the halfway point just to be able to fit them on her arms!
I mean, this girl does track, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, soccer, and Tae Kwon Do. She has a little, tiny six pack, and it makes me so upset that she feels fat because her pants are meant to be cut off after each use. I feel like it’s being suggested that her size is a problem, and she needs to stay trim to find fitting clothes, yet, she’s so fit I can’t wrap my brain around it! Does this look at all like a heavy kid that would have a reason to not fit into age appropriate clothing to you?
Even this cute, little, sparkly dress is a size 8-10, and she’s about to outgrow it!
I am really aggravated with our standards of appearance and the blatant sexism we slap our young girls upside the head with. Pants and shirts shouldn’t be painful or restrictive. We don’t need to train our daughters to dress like hoochies, yet, we aren’t giving them a lot of alternatives. Why do I have to find sweatpants if I want my daughter to be warm AND be able to participate in gym class? How do we make this stop and let our little girls know that there is nothing wrong with them and everything wrong with the clothing designers? I, for one, would like the young ladies of America to know that you can be pretty, have nice clothes, and still have some meat on your bones regardless.
Trying to Mom 