In a perfect world, we would be surrounded by people who are naturally inclusive and think about people and experiences other than themselves (we’re dreaming obviously). Fortunately for us, we live in a world that is not only exclusive, but extremely narrowminded even when it comes to everyday experiences. Don’t get it twisted. There are some moments when being inclusive can go wrong, but for the most part, people aren’t thinking of ways to make life better for curvy women off the bat.
The most obvious experience that needs to be more size inclusive: shopping. Don’t even get us started on the fact that most curvy girl friendly lines are sold online so you have to play the game of which size am I at this retailer, but it’s even more of an insult that when things are sold in stores, it’s only select pieces. And because they’re really trying to get curvy women to buy clothes they always seem to put the racks towards the far, almost close to Siberia, back of the store.
Even the dressing room sizes have gotten a lot smaller than they used to be, and the mirrors are made for slim girls so you always have to do a turn-around swirl, step back, step forward to really get a good look. Would bigger mirrors and wider dressing rooms cost much more? I doubt it, but I am sure that it would encourage people to actually want to try on things more and then…better sales.
Another experience that doesn’t think about women’s sizing: spas. The treatment tables are usually catered to women of a certain size, so it can be extremely uncomfortable if you’re lying down on a table, during your massage but the knobs of the chair are sticking in your sides. Definitely not a relaxing experience. You would hope someone would think of getting larger sized robes, but even that’s not something spas have readily available.
And at this point, I’ve lost count of how many times some of my curvy girl friends have said to me that they don’t want to go to a certain restaurant or theme park because the seating is made really tight and it makes them feel uncomfortable. Curvy girls aren’t a different species of alien, there is no special equation that has to be done to fix this every day problem that women have to deal with. There’s no room to let people keep up with the assumption of ‘one size fits all’. Stop assuming people, it only makes you look more ignorant.
