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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Skinny privellege

758 replies

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 08:40

Why is there shops full of clothes for women who are skinnt but nothing bigger i hate going clothes literally can never find anything in a size 16 it's all size 6 and 8 is the fat back in the 90s discrimination trend coming in again?? Shouldn't need to skinny to look nice??

OP posts:
Ndd135632 · 20/02/2023 10:02

SmudgeButt · 20/02/2023 09:48

What gets me is that when you get into the plus sizes it's also assumed you're short. Trousers are shorter in length and there's less options for longer hems on skirts. A "customer service" person in M&S once commented to me that it's because "short people are normally quite fat". One of the times I dropped the clothing I was holding and walked over it on my way out of the shop.

Science would dictate that as true. She was stating fact. Why did you strop off?

KevinsChilli · 20/02/2023 10:02

Comedycook · 20/02/2023 09:51

It's not the same at all... because of the way society views weight and size. It's one of those things that people think there being really clever by saying. It's not. You need to view these terms in the context of the society we live in.

People use the term 'skinny' in a bad way, rather than complimentary. Both are meant as quite nasty terms about someone's weight.

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:03

M&s is for older women 🤣 I'm 31 lol

OP posts:
RonObvious · 20/02/2023 10:03

Far more discrimination against short men with respect to clothes, in my experience. Nigh on impossible to find trousers with leg lengths less than 30 inches, and most pjs / loungewear don't seem to have short options.

Smoothlines · 20/02/2023 10:04

Climbles · 20/02/2023 10:00

Why are so many people arguing about the semantics of ‘skinny’. It’s very clear from the OP what her point is.
I’ve been everything from a size 6/8 to and 22 as an adult and I’m a 12 now. No issues with finding clothes at all at a size 12 but struggled at both ends of the spectrum. Anything over a size 16 starts to get difficult IME.

Because it is important. The OP talks about skinny privilege. If you replace “skinny” with some other derogatory comment associated with other groups of people, you can see. It’s rude and insulting and unpleasant.

KevinsChilli · 20/02/2023 10:04

Climbles · 20/02/2023 10:00

Why are so many people arguing about the semantics of ‘skinny’. It’s very clear from the OP what her point is.
I’ve been everything from a size 6/8 to and 22 as an adult and I’m a 12 now. No issues with finding clothes at all at a size 12 but struggled at both ends of the spectrum. Anything over a size 16 starts to get difficult IME.

Would you be asking why people are arguing about the semantics of 'fat?'

Lasttraintolondon · 20/02/2023 10:04

Teriyakieverything · 20/02/2023 08:47

Stop labelling anything and everything 'good'/valued as being a 'privilege'/exclusionary and then trying to induce guilt and make out it is a 'bad' thing because it is not 'inclusive'.

You get my vote! Completely agree.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 20/02/2023 10:05

lljkk · 20/02/2023 09:10

That's funny. I swear clothes are all made for apple or Pear shapes & very little for us hour glasses. We used to be the standard shape but now everyone is a pear or apple. I have resorted to buying teenager clothes (age 15-16) to get adjustable waists that actually fit my waist = not fat middle.

I'd say there's Pear shape privilege!

Yes! Trying to find dresses with an actual waist is a nightmare. I have to wear a belt with pretty much everything now.

I'm a 10/12 depending on the shop. Most places I can find bigger sizes. Even online shopping is frustrating, I can get XS or XL but nothing in between.

Maybebabyno2 · 20/02/2023 10:05

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:03

M&s is for older women 🤣 I'm 31 lol

That's not the case at all! My mate buys most of her clothes in M&S and always looks amazing. She's 29. I can't afford it otherwise I would shop there too.

Pyewhacket · 20/02/2023 10:05

Move more, eat less. That’s not fat shaming, that’s common sense. And all diets work, as long as you stick to them.

Seasonofthewitch83 · 20/02/2023 10:05

KevinsChilli · 20/02/2023 10:02

People use the term 'skinny' in a bad way, rather than complimentary. Both are meant as quite nasty terms about someone's weight.

We arent talking personal insults here. We are talking about the structural, economical, social issues that fat people face, that slimmer people do not.

Like being able to buy affordable, well fitting clothes on the high street.

Climbles · 20/02/2023 10:06

MelaniesFlowers · 20/02/2023 09:44

Agreed. The option to be a smaller size is open to you OP just like it is to everyone else.

What a twatish thing to say!

bloodyplanes · 20/02/2023 10:06

Im a 14 or 16 and i never have a problem finding the right size in shops!

LimeCheesecake · 20/02/2023 10:07

@Annabella91 - where are you shopping? I haven’t found this but then it could be as PP have said you are shopping in stores aimed at teens, who are more likely to be thin/wearing the smaller dress sizes. Or do you live in a town with an unusually high number of size 16 ladies who are clearing the shops out?!

what I struggle with is finding short legged trousers on the high street now. I always end up trying on the standard or long (in our town they always stock the long) to check waist measurement (I’m annoyingly between sizes) and then have to order on line.

KirstenBlest · 20/02/2023 10:07

@Annabella91 , Skinny privellege
Being a small dress size and skinny are completely different things.
Privilege seems a strange word to use in this context.

If I went into a shoe shop and they had lots of size 8 shoes and size 3 shoes but few size 5 and size 6, it's probably because the popular sizes have already been bought, not some sort of favouritism towards the smaller and larger sizes.

Seasonofthewitch83 · 20/02/2023 10:07

Pyewhacket · 20/02/2023 10:05

Move more, eat less. That’s not fat shaming, that’s common sense. And all diets work, as long as you stick to them.

Again, we arent talking about losing weight?

We are talking about how crap is it that fat people, who are allowed to happily exist in the current body they have, are unable to buy clothes as easily as a slimmer person on the high street,

But thank you for your ground-breaking recommendation.

Climbles · 20/02/2023 10:08

Pyewhacket · 20/02/2023 10:05

Move more, eat less. That’s not fat shaming, that’s common sense. And all diets work, as long as you stick to them.

Thats an amazingly ignorant oversimplification. Look at all the research in this area it overwhelmingly say diets don’t work.

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:08

Moaning I don't think so I'm in a shop righ now there is mountains of size 6 clothing lol 🤣 nothing I like in a 16 or 18

OP posts:
collosalbrainbearer · 20/02/2023 10:08

SwordToFlamethrower · 20/02/2023 10:02

I wouldn't call it a privilege to have to constantly work out and watch what you eat. It is shitty and exhausting to constantly have to control yourself

I have to eat constantly to maintain my weight. It's soooo awful, I truly hate it

MelaniesFlowers · 20/02/2023 10:09

Seasonofthewitch83 · 20/02/2023 09:57

The problem is if you are above a size 22/24, the majority of high street jobs do not cater for you.

Argue all you want about the Ifs an Whys there isnt, but that would then fall under the category of the western recognised term 'Thin Privilege.'

I’m a size 4. Can never find those in shops because the majority don’t cater for me.

Works both ways.

Seasonofthewitch83 · 20/02/2023 10:09

MelaniesFlowers · 20/02/2023 10:09

I’m a size 4. Can never find those in shops because the majority don’t cater for me.

Works both ways.

That isn't privilege though.

Still sucks for you, but it is not the same.

midgemadgemodge · 20/02/2023 10:10

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:08

Moaning I don't think so I'm in a shop righ now there is mountains of size 6 clothing lol 🤣 nothing I like in a 16 or 18

Nothing you like in your size

And ?

Perhaps the skinnies don't like the stuff in their size either

collosalbrainbearer · 20/02/2023 10:10

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:03

M&s is for older women 🤣 I'm 31 lol

They just have normal clothes that aren't cut out in the middle. And lots look stylish and put together. I'm younger than you and shop there...

Firestones · 20/02/2023 10:12

My main issue at the mo is that everything is so cropped. Even in m&s. All the tops are so short. Same with sweaty Betty.

i am a 32h and a size 14. And 5ft 3in. These style of tops make me look like a ball.

Pureradio · 20/02/2023 10:12

Annabella91 · 20/02/2023 10:08

Moaning I don't think so I'm in a shop righ now there is mountains of size 6 clothing lol 🤣 nothing I like in a 16 or 18

Which shop are you in?