Thursday 28 March 2013 - One size doesn't fit all

This is a photograph of a size 12 mannequin that has been put on display in a Swedish department store. The image has gone viral online as women everywhere celebrated the realism that the figure showcases. Of course there has also been backlash from those who believe that if we celebrate a larger size as being 'beautiful' we are encouraging obesity?!

I was reminded of the book I read recently (Portia De Rossi's "Unbearable Lightness," you can read my review here.) In the book Portia describes how she kept a collection of mannequins in her apartment at the time she was suffering from an eating disorder. She recalls taking measurements of the models and comparing them to her own as a method of gauging her "progress." Even at her smallest size (a shocking weight of 37kg) her measurements were larger than the pint sized models - yet we think it's a problem for women's health to model underwear on healthy and curvy size 12 models?!

How can we even begin to declare that there is a "one size fits all" image of healthiness? Peoples bodies naturally come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes; and it's what's happening on the inside that counts. I hope that the support that has been shown for this initiative helps to bring about some much needed change in the way that women's bodies are portrayed in modern media.