EPQ on plus size models

[hols]

I am a Year 13 Student from Waddesdon Church of England School, and this time next year I really hope to be on my way to university to complete my dream of studying Fashion Marketing and Promotion. 
To help me achieve this dream I am completing an extended project qualification (EPQ). This is a written piece of work on a chosen topic of our interest, once I have completed this project this will gain me extra UCAS points to boost my chances of getting into my top university choices. 
The title of my project is “Size 16 is not too large to be a fashion model”. I personally aim to show to the young and easily influenced generation that size of your body does not matter, and they should not worry if they feel that they are not the perfect body size which the fashion industry may have created. Throughout this project I will be researching a group of models who are a wide range of sizes and discovering if they feel that the fashion industry is influencing the sizes of model’s, fashion brands are using. I also will be searching through university research data on how the sizes of fashion models are influencing the general public and also the fashion model’s personal feelings. 
I would love to receive some feedback from a wide range of people about their opinions on body image and if they feel themselves or society has become affected through typical fashion model sizes, and also the importance of more realistic body sized models
I would be really grateful if you could give me some feedback it would be so helpful for me to complete my project!
Thank you

[bbwfan54]

I feel that Women in Western society (for the record, I am an adult, hetero, white "senior citizen" male American, if you are including demographics) are bombarded daily with imagery of slim, almost skeletal women.

This is supposed to be the "ideal woman", and if you don't look like that, well,  the subliminal message is that you have no  worth, you are hideous, and ya better get skinny if  "you want to get a partner"!

On Western television, in sitcoms particularly , the guy can be a chunky, beefy, sloppy "schlub", but his wife HAS to be skinny to be beautiful and deserving to be married.

(I am aware that Roseanne Barr's show of years back featured her and her fat husband, but really, that is a very rare instance.) I can think of no dramas that feature plus sized women in the lead role. Supporting cast, maybe, like the "best friend" of the lead, bit players, etc.

Hollywood - EVERY leading lady has to be slim or she would not get the part! When have you seen a size 16 as the lead in a major Hollywood motion picture? I mean since Mae West?

Maybe Marilyn Monroe, who did have some curves, but really, the choices are few. She really wasn't what we would consider "plus size".

The few plus sized women who DO make it to television or Hollywood are usually browbeaten to lose weight by managers and directors.

I have ALWAYS been attracted to women with curves, finding them soooooooo much more attractive, at least physically,  than the slim woman.

I know, it's personal preference. If people prefer the thinner woman, that is perfectly OK. Just not my "cuppa tea". That is why I am on sites such as this.

I realize there are no real facts here, just my opinions. And that's what they are, personal opinions and my preferences. They hold sway over no one but myself.

Good Luck on your dissertation,

bbwfan54

 

[Guest trolo]

You could also write something about the double standards in today's plus size industry. Since society became aware of the plus size industry, it began to have an impact on young women. BUT the problem we now have is even worse than young women desperately trying to achieve a slim figure or getting ashamed for not having it. I realized that every plus size model has the rather 'feminine' pear-shape. A slim figure can be achieved through a lot of workout and dieting but an apple-shape woman can NEVER get a pear-shape regardless. I find it kind of sad that you find models with huge boobs and hips/ass but almost no woman in real life is able to achive this, to actually get a body like this.

So nowadays the new toxic image for the 'perfect' woman is not being a stick but having wide hips and big boobs. Some even go this far and say: "a real woman has wide hips a big ass and some big boobs".

Still, I wish you good Luck on your dissertation

[hols]

Thank you so much for your feedback you have been extremely helpful!!!!!