Real women have curves

So, just in case you missed the memo: women have hips.  Yup, hips and sometimes boobs too.  Today I'm just talking about hips - we can talk about boobs some other time.  Hips don't follow straight lines, they have curves.  This inherent, non-linear, feature of hips is a direct consequence of the shape of a women's hip bones. Now, I know I'm a physical scientist, so my knowledge of biology is well, lacking, but last time I checked, no diet in the world is going to change the shape of your bones.

Women have hips for a very good reason, a reason that is required by the biological imperative to preserve the human race.  Hips are curvy to carry babies.

At least that's what I thought.  I was happily going through life with my curvy hips thinking that it was normal.  Until this morning, when I decided to peruse the Sunday flyers and this caught my eye.

This is a page from this week's Target ad.  In general, I like to shop at Target, they have good products at a good price, they donate some of their profits to education, it's a pleasant shopping experience as far as big box store shopping goes, etc.  Truth be told, I buy clothes there too.  Professional looking clothes that I often get a lot of compliments on.  So typically, pants on sale at Target is a good thing for me.

Then I read a little closer.  Target is following in the footsteps of some higher end clothing stores and starting to sell pants by "fit". This is a phenomena that has appeared in the last few years. Different pants come in the same "fit" so, theoretically, you don't have to try on every pair in the store, but just the ones that have the waist where you want it and the legs the shape you like.  Sometimes the fits have numbers - Target is calling theirs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and other times they have cutesy names like "The Lolita" or "The Kate".  I would tend towards the "Kate" since it evokes visions of a classy princess-to-be and avoid the Lolita - given that it will most likely show more of my butt then is appropriate at my age.  (Men: if you have read this far and now find yourself dumb-founded, go ask your wives - this is true - shopping for pants these days practically requires a PhD in psychology)

So there I am, in my blissful curvy-hipped existence, thinking that I might be able to find some new pants at Target this week.  Until I looked a little closer...

Fit 1: Just below waist & relaxed hip/thigh
Fit 2: Just below waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 3: Mid waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 4: Mid waist & curvy hip/thigh
Fit 5: Low waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 6: Lower waist & straight hip/thigh

WHAT????  4 of the 6 fits have "straight" hips?  Dear god, should we all fear for the future of the human race*?  Do women not have hips anymore?  Those curves serve a vital purpose, if on average - which I assume is the target demographic for Target - 4 out of 6 women don't have those very important curves, we're in big trouble.

Now I know that no one really thought this through.  I know that "straight hip/thigh" is fashion speak for  "form-fitting slut pants" and that's what's in fashion these days (seriously - can we be done with the damn skinny jeans already?). I  know that "relaxed hip/thigh" really means "baggy pants for the days you feel bloated" and "curvy hip/thigh" means these pants will likely fit you appropriately enough to wear to work.  I know there is a similar coding for the "waist" - mid = appropriate, low = not so much, high = grandma style.  So I  can still go to Target and get some pants.  Curvy - mid waist - average american women pants.

But, I am a grown women, with a healthy body image.  I know that I could stand to lose a few
extra pounds, but I also know that I am healthy and that there is a right way and a wrong way to lose them - and really if I want to keep them there's nothing wrong with that either.

BUT:

I am not a teenage girl, or a young women even, who is still vulnerable to the societal pressures of conforming - although some days I was.
I am not a girl who's lost some weight and still feels it's not enough. - although some days I am
I am not a girl whose parents insult her - and I am lucky that I never was and I never will be!
I am not a girl who gets teased - although some days I was.
I am not a girl who has low self-esteem  - although some days I am.
I am not a grown women with a healthy body image who just happened to feel "bloated" this morning - although some days I am.

If I was any one of those women, the message here is that I shouldn't have curves, that I should work harder to be "straight".  If I was one of those girls, I might find myself crying in a Target fitting room and checking out with a pair of sweatpants and a box of Oreos instead of real pants.

If I was any one of those women, I'd likely be a grown version of one of 70% of teenage girls in America today.

Some of you have young daughters.  Tell them they are beautiful.  Tell them that every day.

Some of you have sisters, some of you have friends. I think everyone of us knows one of those girls, or worse yet, everyone of us hides one of those girls way down deep inside at some point or another.

In the end, I'm not going to boycott Target or anything like that.  If I did I'd have to boycott every place else where I can buy pants too, or clothes at all really, and while I have the skills to make my own clothes, I certainly don't have the time!  I'll proudly go get a pair of those curvy ones, they look really nice and at $20 you can't be that with stick.

But, I am still sad that not everyone can recognize the bull and be proud of those curves!


*we probably should fear for the future of the human race, but I certainly don't think that it's because we have evolved past the ability to bear children. It is much more likely because we have too many children and are going to overpopulate the earth - but that's a whole other matter.