"I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member" ~ Groucho Marx

In a shot heard 'round the world, Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO doesn't want fat chicks wearing their clothing.

I feel you and all of your righteous indignation when clothing makers decide to cut-off their sizes at a certain point and that just so happens to not include you.  I empathize to a degree.  I hear all of your love for brands that decide to include larger sizes.  I see your pom-poms.

But the truth is that even if they did go up to size 16, there would still be people left out.  Even if they went up to size 20, there would still be people that can't shop there.  And that's okay.  That's their choice.  Producing clothing over a certain size requires the patterns to change, which requires different factory setups.  At some point, they just do a cost-benefit analysis and decide that they aren't going to expand the sizes.

What people are mad at is that this CEO decided to paint a very bleak picture about size and acceptance.  Are we mad because he's a jerkface and pointed out the disparity about how differently people are treated because of their size, or are we mad because he's making money off of it?

That's for y'all to debate if you wish.  I just want to remind you that, as consumers, we yield not just a lot of power with our dollars and how we spend them, we also have a voice. And in this case, I choose to believe that Abercrombie & Fitch just wants to see me naked.  I mean, I don't blame them.  I'm pretty hot naked.

So wouldn't that be the best kind of protest?  A naked flash mob of people they're unwilling to clothe.  I don't like flash mobs in general (the kind that sing and dance) but heck, if you're going to flash someone, might as well bring friends.

---

Yesterday, I also took the time to cause a little trouble:

1. For me to be "skinny," I'd have to lose a lot of muscle.  And well muscle is sexy, so that isn't happening.  I'd rather be healthy, strong, fast, confident.  Skinny is for the birds.  (That isn't to say that I know plenty of people who are healthy and slim, but "skinny" seems to be a status symbol, not an indicator of actual health and happiness).
2.  from what I've heard (and the BL history supports this) -- he's recommending women eat a diet of 800 calories (for 2 weeks).  That type of calorie restricting (no matter how long) IS NOT HEALTHY and promotes disordered eating habits.
3. If you've been reading my blog (thank you) or following me on Twitter (thank you), we're probably like-minded (i.e., don't have our heads up our asses) in that we know that exercise requires fuel. 800 calories is barely enough to support someone in a coma, let alone someone leading an active, physically fit life.
4. He's teaching people how to live 2 weeks of their life -- not how to live the rest of their life.  If you can't do it every day for the rest of your life, then it's a gimmick (right up there with his diet pills).  And slapping the word "skinny" on it just panders to all the insecurities we have.  And because it's Bob Fucking Harper (or Jillian Fucking Michaels), people buy into it. 

---

So... please take a stand with me and show the world (see where I get the whole "vs World" bit from?) that HEALTH and HAPPINESS are more important than labels ('fashionable' or 'skinny').  That's the club you want to belong to.