This quote has been a motto that I stand by, and have for many years. While it is only the beginning of the quote, it stands out in my mind and reminds me that imperfections can be beautiful too. Marilyn Monroe was a person that I admire and love just based on her beliefs, her words, her thoughts. She fought through many struggles in her life, including with her weight.
This is something that a lot of girls and women struggle with in today's society. Weight is always a concern and a problem whether you're too skinny or too fat or just not the right size.
As a girl who's never been very skinny, I can't deny that it didn't bother me in the past. Other girls were able to buy these super cute outfits and I might not fit them or just not like the way they looked on my body. As I got older, I realized that beauty is really what you make of it. I began to learn to love who I was and as a result gained confidence and happiness.
This photo I came across the other day via social media sort of brought up this past again. Abercrombie and Fitch is a very well known clothing company that sells jeans, shorts, hoodies, shirts, and perfume and cologne. They target an audience of 'beautiful, skinny' people which many people take offence to. Their sizes are a little smaller than the average retail store, so a lot of people who are considered average sized are not able to wear clothes from the store. This photo states the following:
- When asked why he refuses to make clothes for larger women Abercrombie CEO Michael Jeffries responded: "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. We go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong in our clothes, and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. That's why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that."
This statement emerged a few years ago, but this photo has been shared hundreds of times on my feed in the past few days. Now for some people, this may not be such a big deal. For others, it's like a huge slap in the face. I think that each store has the right to do what they want, but I think that this statement is a poor reflection of the company and stirred up a lot of trouble. When I used to shop in the States, I would sometimes purchase hoodies or t-shirts from Abercrombie just because that was my style of clothing in the past and I loved the colours they had. I always wore a large (I've always had boobs so it's been the same for a long time) and again it didn't really bother me as I was a teenager. What did bother me was I would always notice that the girls who worked in the store were generally blonde (sometimes there were a few brunettes), tall, skinny, pretty, and basically the entire package. The guys: tall, built, tanned, model looking guys. I would sometimes get stares walking into the store and I knew it was because I wasn't the 'skinny image' portrayed by society.
I'm at the point in my life where again, I've become comfortable with who I am and where I'm at. But for a lot of girls growing up, this is something that can lead to eating disorders, suicide, and depression. I'm not a big expert on the topic but I have grown up and seen my fair share of girls who try things to make themselves look thinner or prettier that are very dangerous. I believe in equality and people should not be shunned because of their age, gender, weight, size, or anything. Everyone is beautiful in their own way, and society should learn not to try and change that. I really wish that it was easier for girls to see their beauty because it comes in so many different ways. I know that this is such a cliche issue, but it's something that has been a problem for so many years. The problem may never go away, but if we learn to see the beauty that's always there, we're one step closer.
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