We recently ran a series that everyone here at the CollegeCandy offices thought would be an awesome way to give our usually pro-body-acceptance readers a self-esteem boost. But instead Celebrating Celebrity “Flaws” turned into a body-bashing he-man-woman-hater’s club. We didn’t see that coming. We were just trying to celebrate our differences that everyone, from the media to our friends, is telling us are wrong and ugly. Instead the very people we wanted to celebrate (you!), cut each other down.

How are we ever going to learn to love our bodies, if we can’t even talk positively about differences?

The conversation about flat celebrities wasn’t about the pressure to have big boobs (and of course a skinny frame), but rather about how all skinny, flat woman “obviously” have eating disorders. The conversation about big noses and bushy eyebrows wasn’t about the pressure to have petite/adorable facial features, but instead about how these women didn’t have big enough noses, or weird enough noses, or bushy enough eyebrows.  It’s as if you’re saying that it has to be one or the other. A small nose or a huge nose; groomed eyebrows or a unibrow. There’s no middle ground.

While we were pretty disappointed by all the body-bashing in the first 3 posts, we seemed to touch on some real issues in the curvy girls post and we were really interested by what we read. There was tons of backlash about who we chose — and a lot of people were upset that we included people like Monique, Nikki Blonsky, and Gabourey Sidibe. Apparently there’s a line between curvy and fat; and we crossed it. Not were we unaware of that line, but we were also pretty surprised that so many people defined “curvy” so differently.

So we wanted to open up these questions to everyone and find out what our readers really think. Read More »

Lately, every fashion magazine on the newsstands has had some variation of a plus size model photo spread. Editors claim to be celebrating the real American woman, but we know it’s just a feeble attempt to boost sales and save their dying businesses.

Being a plus sized girl myself, I’m torn on the whole trend. On the one hand, it’s great to see women with a little meat on their bones (or any meat on their bones, for that matter) displayed so beautifully across the pages of my favorite fashion mags. It’s refreshing to finally be able to look at a fashion spread and see how clothing really looks on real people. People like me.

On the other hand, though, focusing entire spreads and features on plus sized women seems a little exploitative. It’s as if the magazines are saying, “See! We like fat people, too!” And if their goal, as they state, is to change the way we view beauty and really represent the real women living and shopping in this country, they’re going about it all wrong. Read More »

When a tiny picture of a naked “plus-size” model showed up on page 194 of Glamour last month, the readers went wild for it.

And for good reason. How often is it that we are shown a beautiful woman that isn’t a size zero, comfortable in her own skin and naked on the pages of any magazine?

We’ll ignore the fact that being able to “pinch and inch” doesn’t make you plus-size and that this women pictured (who looks maybe a size 8, tops) still isn’t representing a huge portion of the female population who actually are wearing plus sizes. At least we are making a step in the right direction.

Or are we?

After Glamour cashed in on a crapload of press and positive publicity from the picture, Marie Clare decided they wanted in and will now feature a plus-size columnist who plans to give fashion advice to plus sized readers.

While it’s a good start that she actually is plus sized (a size 18 to be exact) and will be able to give helpful and honest advice to other women her size, I still can’t help but wonder what the real motivation is behind this trend to cater to the plus sized readers.

I doubt it’s a coincidence that as sales plummet and magazine companies are dropping like hungry models, they are finally realizing a whole population of their readership has been left out of every fall fashion special, every swimsuit edition, every best-jeans-for-your-body article. Why now?

I’m afraid that the answer is self-serving and superficial: they want to make money. They are capitalizing on and exploiting a whole population of woman in order to boost sales.

Do I love that we are able to have diversity in what we consider beautiful? Yes. Does a picture of a naked plus-size woman bring a smile to my face? Yes. Is it necessary to have fashion advice for women of all shapes and sizes? Absolutely! Read More »