It's no secret that one-size-fits-all is all sorts of bullshit, and it's also no secret that sizes can mean vastly different things when it comes to brands, cuts, and styles. Sizing inconsistencies in women's clothing are all the more glaring when pointed out (or, rather, modeled by) a guy, apparently.
Benjamin Ashton Cooper, a woke bae from Pennsylvania, took to Facebook to show just how messed up sizing can get. While helping his girlfriend clean out her closet, he started noticing a trend, Today reports: "A lot of what she was getting rid of was of the XL size," Cooper wrote in his Facebook post.
What felt off to him, however, wasn't the silhouette or shade. It was what he noticed when he started putting them on. "They fit me," Cooper wrote. "I don't say that to be silly or ironic. It pisses me off."
"I am not an extra large man, and, more importantly, a woman my size is NOT an extra large woman," he continued. "This bullshit right here is why we have 8-year-olds with eating disorders. This shit right here is why men shout 'fucking fat hog!' at even nominally curvy girls on the street."
It seems that Cooper hit a major nerve. His photo album has received more than 285,000 shares. The commenters have been particularly supportive, and for good reason. As we've reported before, the average American woman is a size 14. For reference, a woman's "extra large," according to Macy's international sizing chart, translates into a size 16 to 18, only one size range up from average. Different brands might have different sizing charts, but in general, it's difficult to find any major labels that consistently stock sizes above a 12.
What does this mean? Not only do brands need to rethink what "plus-size" means, they also need to re-think judgmental indicators like "large," "extra-large," or even "small." Because if the average woman is wearing what equates (from numerical to non-numerical sizing) as one size below "extra-large," then there's something seriously wrong with the way we're thinking of the term "average" altogether.