Size Ain't Nothing But a Number

 Why is it that the E! network has a half hour program called "Fashion Police" that praises itsy-bitsy size 0 women who fit in things right off the models on the runway, but then has "E! News" ridiculing a celebrity for losing weight all within the same two-hour time period?  It really bothers me.  Why is it okay for some and not for others to look a certain way?

E!'s Giuliana Rancic

The celebrity was LeAnn Rimes.  Apparently she has lost too much weight for the network's liking - that - or it was a slow news week.  Because really, when you compare her to other celebrities the network never criticizes such as Kate Bosworth or their own Giuliana Rancic, there really isn't much of a difference.  They're all pretty much size zeros.  In fact, in one episode of the Style Network's "Giuliana & Bill," she commented on how she has to stay a "sample size" to be able to fit into the wardrobe E! provides her.  In case you're wondering, a sample size usually ranges from a 0 to a 2 - and on rare occasions is a 4.

LeAnn Rimes

If women in entertainment have to maintain these nearly impossible standards, what's left for the everyday women like us?  Sometimes I feel like we're held to the same requirements.  We're constantly offered supplements, new workout regiments, meal programs on our TV's, in our magazines and on our radios.

When will it stop?  When will this culture accept that we are of all different sizes?  Why can't we see the beauty in being different?  If Jennifer Hudson could be found gorgeous at her new size of 4 or her old of 16, why can't all of us?  And who says we have to meet a certain size requirement anyway?  What does that number even mean?

Jennifer Hudson

Take, for instance, me and one of my friends.  We are both the same size at our favorite store, but I am 5'3" and one weight, while she is 5'10" and a completely different one.  Yet we are the same size and don't look anything alike. 

Maintaining a certain size in fashion may have it's place, but being one in the real world doesn't.  There is beauty in all sizes.  We just have to embrace ourselves and love the shape we have.  We shouldn't define ourselves by a number.  And if we must, then take it and run with it.

Maybe if we do, we can control the sizes of the women we see on our TV and movie screens and not be controlled by them.