Plus Sized Mannequins. Offensive?

[delta_girl 931]

Plus-Sized Mannequin Offends Some

By LIZ NEPORENT | Good Morning America – 5 hours ago

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Department store mannequins with plus-sized curves have had quite an oversized reaction in the blogosphere. When a user of the online forum Reddit posted a photo of a big boned display model under the heading "Anyone else horrified that they make obese mannequins too now?" it received hundreds of comments and thousands of "up" votes.

"Obese people being sold clothes?" said one typical post in favor of the mannequins. "That's just treating them like people."

"OMG, it's about time! I've always hated seeing the size I have to get displayed on a much smaller model, then trying it on to see that it looks completely different on me," read another supportive comment.

And another said in defense of the mannequin: "It's not fat, it's just big foamed."

Not everyone on the site agreed that bigger is better.

"I just fear that obese will become the new normal as we try to be politically correct about it. Being obese is not the same as being black/gay/whatever," one commented.

Another wrote, "The problem is that most people who are fat take any medically accepted way of reducing their weight as ridicule. They then attempt to dissemble said fact and prove to you how they are a special case and that you are really being judgmental for assuming that it's the doughnuts they are chugging that are making them fat. Sorry, I'm done with the fat people sympathy wagon."

The online debate reflects a real-world conflict. Nearly 70 percent of Americans now fall into the overweight or obese category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The average American woman is a size 14. Yet in a sort of reverse vanity sizing, the typical store mannequin remains a svelte size 4 or 6.

Ed Gribbin, president of a mannequin manufacturing company, Alvanon, said he thinks he knows why.

"There is an ingrained mentality of merchants that clothing in smaller sizes looks more appealing -- it's also why runway models are so small. They believe there is an aesthetic appeal that is violated by using larger sizes in their displays," he said.

According to Jennifer Thomas, a body image expert and assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, retailers may be right in hesitating before they upsize their displays.

"Walking into a store and seeing nice clothes on a mannequin that has a body type similar to your own could be a huge boost for self-esteem, but it might also backfire," she said. "A lot of fashion is aspirational, such that people hope they will look like the mannequin if they buy the clothes. In our society, most people would rather be thin than obese."

According to Gribbin, some retailers are beginning to fatten up their floor models in response to consumer feedback.

"They certainly don't want to be seen as passing judgment on anyone and plus sizes are now the majority of sales for many," he said.

Besides the unnamed store in the Reddit post, J.C. Penney quietly introduced more amply proportioned models in its stores in 2009 and TV retailer QVC has been using Alvanon's size 18 and 20 mannequins to hawk clothing on air for the past six years.

Gribbin estimates the mannequin in the Reddit post would wear a plus size 24-26. That's probably larger than most retailers would be willing to display.

Either way, most Reddit users do seem to agree the model is creepy -- and it would seriously benefit from having a larger head, less sausage-like fingers and more realistic proportions.

As one commenter put it, "It's like the person who made this has never seen a fat person before."

[dexter 205]

Is that supposed to be a male or female? Does it have to have such lack of shape? We're not blobs you know. And why is its head so freaking small?!!

I prefer the look of the Lane Bryant mannequins over these, but that's me.

Mannequins are supposed to be fashionable no matter the size imho. That one is... well, I can't quite put my finger on it.

[Dooter 1,457]

Eh. People thrive on being offended at SOMEthing or other. Personally, I like to see what the clothes will look like more realistically. Even "plus sized models" are smaller than my goal weight. It's like everything else. If they don't like it, they don't have to look at it.

[Dooter 1,457]

Ya- it's got football player shoulders and a man head. weird man. weird.

[TwinsMama 483]

I like seeing the larger mannequins. I can't stand to shop in a plus size store or even catalog and see a rail thin display/model. The clothes always seem to fall off the models especially.

I think we need to see more images in stores and magazines. I'd love to see mannequins in wheelchairs. I mean why are so many people so ready to find offense even when there is none?

There will always be things not pleasing to someone's eye...I wish people would get over themselves. And BTW, yes, curvy is hot while this assumption that plus size equals box shape is not.

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

Ya- it's got football player shoulders and a man head. weird man. weird.

Exactly.. I thought it was supposed to be a man. Teeny boobs.. I just assumed they were man boobs.

Plus size or not, we expect mannequins to be of desired proportions. Do skinny mannequins have muffin tops Like so many otherwise thin have? No. Do they have flat butts like many thin women (and some fat women too) have? No they don't. Thin Mannequins have nice proportions, even though not all thin women have those same proportions. So why are they making the fat mannequin with these horrid proportions? At leas they didn't give it a pannus!

[dexter 205]

Okay, looked at it again. The wife beater & grandpa boxers are not flattering. I'm still stumped with the teeny head, girl hands and feet. It's like they tried to make this offensive! It still boggles my mind. I'm not offended by it- just really confused. Hoping that's not how the rest of the world sees me! Blech.

[Threetimesacharm 1,400]

OMG it looks like a linebacker. This must be some sort of sick joke.