Just what is plus size anyway? According to the fashion industry, plus sizes start at size 14 in the US, and size 16-18 in the UK.
But statistics tell us that the average woman in the US is a size 14 or bigger. So if a size 14 is the norm, why are we being shunted into a “special" plus size category? We’re normal but the fashion designers don’t seem to have clued in.
Who decides these things anyway? Is there a secret annual conference of magazine editors, fashion gurus, and department store buyers where they all get blitzed on appletinis (no food passes their lips, of course) and decide that the rest of the world is just too porky to fit into a regular size?
Righteous indignation aside, this arbitrary labelling makes the pursuit of online romance more complicated than it needs to be. Dating site owners are narrowing their marketing focus in an effort to attract customers. The dating business is intensely competitive, so it’s in their interest to slot us into targeted niches, wherever they can.
If you’re an animal lover, there’s a dating site for you. If you want to date fellow Christians, Jews, or Muslims, there’s a dating site for you. If you’re a self-confessed nerd, there’s an online venue where you can meet other nerds (or people who love nerds). There’s even a site where millionaires can meet and fall in love.
And if you’re a larger sized woman or man, there’s plus size personals, a dating niche that’s been invented especially for you.
Plus size dating sites aim to attract BBW (big beautiful women) and BHM (big handsome men) and their admirers. This is, on the surface, a good idea. If you’re not a stick-thin super model, you can join these sites and be assured that the people you meet will appreciate a figure that’s more Rubens than Twiggy.
But what makes these plus size dating sites interesting, from a sociological (or purely nosy) perspective, is the presence of people who don’t obviously belong in the BBW category. After looking through the profiles on half-a-dozen plus size personals sites, it soon became clear that the clientele on each site ranged from the very slightly plump (ie. the average) to really large SSBBW (super sized big beautiful women).
Perhaps this is a comment on modern society, that such a wide spectrum of people self-select into the plus size category. Maybe we’re so brainwashed by skinny models in fashion magazines, and air-brushed, bone-thin Hollywood actors, that we think “well, I don’t look like them, so I must be bigger than most people."
Maybe it’s about time we, “most people", the size 14 + majority, rebel and start insisting that clothing retailers get rid of the plus size category and just stick us all under “normal", whether we’re a size 2 or a size 22.
And when it comes to selecting a body type on dating sites, whether they’re plus size dating sites, or not, we should all start selecting “Average". Because that’s what we most of us are.
Alison Braidwood is a contributing writer for http://www.senior-dating-site-review.com, a light-hearted romance resource for singles over 40. Visit us for reviews of popular dating sites, (including plus size dating), dating profile tips, and a wry look at the search for romance after 40.
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