Life As An Inbetweenie: The Importance of Body Confidence

By Katherine Gardner on June 4, 2016

Shopping for clothes was never an outing that I looked forward to when I was younger. There was always a looming feel of dread on the days my mom and I devoted to this grueling task. Finding cute clothes that fit my body type properly, without an emotional break down over the size, was by no means an easy feat.  A dressing room meltdown would inevitably occur before the days end because all of Forever 21’s shirts are either miniscule crop tops or don’t account for the fact that some girls have boobs larger than a 34 C. I left each store feeling more and more like my 5’6’’, 150 lb. healthy body was actually the body of an elephant that would never find beauty in her own appearance because she didn’t look like the cute kangaroos on the front of all the magazines.

(Pexels.com)

I knew that I didn’t have some alien body type, so why was shopping always such a daunting and disheartening task? It wasn’t until I watched a video on the YouTube channel “StyleLikeU” that I realized just how corrupt the modeling industry truly is and how my constant exposure exclusively to size 0-4 models has affected my own perception of my body in a very unhealthy way.

This video features Myla Dalbesio, a woman who is no stranger to the pressures of the modeling industry.  Upon entering into the business, she was told that if she wanted to be taken seriously as a model she would need to lose fifteen pounds—her then size 6 body was far too large for her to be a respectable model. Because she was unable to lose the weight in a healthy way, Myla turned to Adderall to help her lose the ‘extra’ pounds, which soon spiraled into an addiction. After years of struggling with this addiction, she finally decided she was done with the charade of attempting to fit into a world where she was forced to endanger her health in order to be deemed satisfactory for her job. She now defines herself as an “inbetweenie” in the modeling world:

 “I am among one of many girls that are inbetweenies. So we’re not skinny enough to be straight sized, these like size 0 size 2 girls, and we’re not large enough to be considered plus size. Instead we’re in the middle and there’s no market for that.”

In the time it took me to watch that video, I realized why I have felt so horrible about my own body for such a long time and why so many girls are tricked into thinking the exact same way. There is no market for models that are sizes 6-14. Up until recently, there have been very few role models for girls like me to look up to because there has never been a market for girls like me—a statement that I find outrageous considering the amount of women wearing similar sizes. Why is it so unheard of for a woman to be both incredibly beautiful and wear a size 10 jean without a tabloid telling her she needs to loose 30 pounds because summer is fast approaching, or labeling her as a plus sized model when she is not? Why aren’t there models represented for each and every size of clothing that is made available in stores like Forever 21, Hollister, American Eagle, etc.? Maybe if there was more acknowledgement of “inbetweenie” models and celebrities in media, girls who are healthy and wearing perfectly normal sizes wouldn’t feel the pressure to harm themselves in order to fit into sizes that are unrealistic for their bodies.

“Inbetweenies” are slowly beginning to make their way into the spotlight, standing up for girls everywhere who are made to feel less than because of their size. Women like Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, and Mindy Kaling are constantly pushing the boundaries of societal standards and encouraging body acceptance among women of all shapes and sizes.

(Twitter.com)

There needs to be a celebration and acceptance of all body types, small, medium, and large, in and out of media. Everyone is beautiful, and whether you wear a size 2, 12, or 22 you should feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. Shopping shouldn’t be a dreaded activity, and a number on a tag should never equate to the self worth of a person. With the inclusion of models representing all different body types in fashion and media, there would be a much-needed normalization of the female body as opposed to this constant idolization of one very specific and confining image—thin.

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