This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/she-said/2014/jul/17/size-triple-zero-why-wont-our-obsession-with-super-skinny-disappear

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Size triple zero: why won't our obsession with super skinny disappear? Size triple zero: why won't our obsession with super skinny disappear?
(about 1 month later)
Size Size matters. For men, the general rule is the bigger the better. For women, it is the opposite — at least when it comes to dress size. Hence the re-emergence of the size zero debate, reignited with the appearance of size triple zero. The original size zero, first brought to our attention ten years ago, is a British size 4. But now we have the triple zero — recently introduced by American retailer J Crew and used by Abercrombie & Fitch which is available in the UK — is a British size zero. It would fit a 23 inch waist, the typical size for a child age 6 - 8.
matters. For men, the general rule is the bigger the better. For women, Of course there is outrage about such a dress size being promoted for adult women and and I completely agree with condemning this ridiculous move. But the way many articles report the incident — “Oh no, its back again, women are once again trying to make themselves unhealthily skinny.” — doesn’t make sense. It implies that the world’s obsession with skinny and its impact on women’s body image had gone away and was only now returning.
it is the opposite — at least when it comes to dress size. Hence the It hadn't. It was always with us. And pointing out a problem isn't the same as fixing it. At the time of the introduction of double zero, many magazines said how terrible it was, included a few positively captioned images of women with healthy body weights — and then it was back to the status quo. While so many women's magazine correctly say starving yourself skinny is not healthy and insist we learn to love ourselves whatever our size, flick through a few pages and there they are: extremely slim young women in every fashion spread. Another few pages and you find them praising the stylishness of seriously thin women — Alexa Chung and Kate Bosworth are consistently held up as the world's most fashionable women but are certainly nowhere near the average British women’s size. Occasionally a slightly curvier women breaks through — Beyoncé for example — but its a rarity.
re-emergence of the size zero debate, reignited with the appearance of size triple zero. The original size zero, first brought to our attention A recent article in Grazia on the subject points out that “vanity sizing” plays a large role in the triple zero phenomenon. Shops re-number normal sizes to boost the buyer’s self-esteem — so what was once a size 12 becomes a 10 or 8 and thus so smaller sizes get labelled “zero” or “double zero”. There has been a call to end vanity sizing and Grazia says that there should be a standardisation of sizes across retailers in Europe and the US. But will this really help? Yes you'll know exactly what size you are in any shop, but why would that stop someone from being obsessed with being skinny? It is the images that women are bombarded with everyday that make the lasting impact: skinny is stylish and putting on weight gets you shame (and often a red circle around the offending area). Blaming the sizing itself shifts the blame from the magazines and websites to the retailers.
ten years ago, is a British size 4. But now we have the triple zero — recently introduced by American retailer J Crew and used by Abercrombie Some of the articles have also blamed the rise of Instagram and the “skinny selfie”, saying the celebrities who post pictures of themselves looking extremely slim are the cause of the triple zero’s creation. But once again this is shifting the blame to those who obviously think their self-worth is connected to their slimness. Why do they feel the need to do this? So they get attention, so they can be called stylish, so they won’t be called fat. It is important the media recognises its role in society’s coveting of skinny and actually addresses it — or in the next few years “the rise of the quadruple zero” is likely to be the headline. Nothing changes. Literally.
& Fitch which is available in the UK — is a British size zero. It
would fit a 23 inch waist, the typical size for a child age 6 - 8.
Of
course there is outrage about such a dress size being promoted for adult
women and and I completely agree with condemning this ridiculous move.
But the way many articles report the incident — “Oh no, its back again,
women are once again trying to make themselves unhealthily skinny.” — doesn’t make sense. It implies that the world’s obsession with skinny
and its impact on women’s body image had gone away and was only now
returning.
It
hadn't. It was always with us. And pointing out a problem isn't the
same as fixing it. At the time of the introduction of double zero, many
magazines said how terrible it was, included a few positively captioned
images of women with healthy body weights — and then it was back to the
status quo. While so many women's magazine correctly say starving
yourself skinny is not healthy and insist we learn to love ourselves
whatever our size, flick through a few pages and there they are:
extremely slim young women in every fashion spread. Another few pages
and you find them praising the stylishness of seriously thin women — Alexa Chung and Kate Bosworth are consistently held up as the world's
most fashionable women but are certainly nowhere near the average British
women’s size. Occasionally a slightly curvier women breaks through — Beyoncé for example — but its a rarity.
A
recent article in Grazia on the subject points out that “vanity sizing” plays a large role in the triple zero phenomenon. Shops re-number
normal sizes to boost the buyer’s self-esteem — so what was once a size
12 becomes a 10 or 8 and thus so smaller sizes get labelled “zero” or
“double zero”. There has been a call to end vanity sizing and Grazia
says that there should be a standardisation of sizes across retailers in
Europe and the US. But will this really help? Yes you'll know exactly
what size you are in any shop, but why would that stop someone from
being obsessed with being skinny? It is the images that women are
bombarded with everyday that make the lasting impact: skinny is stylish
and putting on weight gets you shame (and often a red circle around the
offending area). Blaming the sizing itself shifts the blame from the
magazines and websites to the retailers.
Some
of the articles have also blamed the rise of Instagram and the “skinny
selfie”, saying the celebrities who post pictures of themselves looking
extremely slim are the cause of the triple zero’s creation. But once
again this is shifting the blame to those who obviously think their
self-worth is connected to their slimness. Why do they feel the need to
do this? So they get attention, so they can be called stylish, so they
won’t be called fat. It is important the media recognises its role in
society’s coveting of skinny and actually addresses it — or in the next
few years “the rise of the quadruple zero” is likely to be the headline.
Nothing changes. Literally.
@annamckie@annamckie