My excessive use of quotation marks in this post are merely a sign of my absolute incredulity

I've come across quite a few things in the past few days concerning society's unrealistic expectations about what people (mainly women) should look like. The first was an article that a man wrote called "I am a Plus-Sized Woman Who Has Never Ripped a Pair of Pants". The guy writing the article had lost 200 lbs and was a solid size medium in men's clothes. He decided to see what size he was in women's clothes and was shocked that instead of a size 10 like he had been expecting, he was a size 20! Here is what he had to say about that:

While I was in the car I thought about how unfair women's sizes are to men's sizes. I do not wear anything that is considered a large. No one makes comments about my size anymore. I have not ripped or gone through a pair of pants in years. Yet if I was a woman I would have to shop at "plus-size" stores. I would be too large to be a true "plus-size" model. I would be looked upon as the problem for obesity instead of the solution that some see me as.

Yes, I think all of us know that sizes can be crazy. I usually wear a size large in tops now. Yet somehow whenever I fit into a medium, I always think that it is just because it must be cut super-big. Then if I happen to need an extra-large, I think that, yup, that's what size I am. I wish I could just ignore sizes.

The author of the article above stated that if he was a woman, he would be too large to be a plus-size model. Which brings me to the next thing I saw that disturbed me: just what a "plus-size" model looks like in this country. Ellen DeGeneres had a "plus-size" model (sorry for all the quotation marks, but they are absolutely necessary considering what this model actually looks like) on her show a couple of weeks ago, and my jaw dropped. Here is what she looked like:

Seriously, are you kidding me? This is what "plus-sized" looks like to the modeling industry? This girl is absolutely gorgeous, and I would actually put her on the thin side of normal. But I guess in the modeling world, the fact that she actually has boobs and some hips instead of looking like a creepy skeleton like most "normal" models means that she will always be "plus-sized." It just seems so sick to me. Why can't models be closer to regular peoples' sizes? Obviously, this girl looks great in clothes and she isn't a size 2. Why can't that be normal? Why is it normal in this society for models to be proud about the fact that they have a bigger thigh gap than another model (don't even get me started on the thigh gap)? What message is this sending to girls, and women too, for that matter? I know it's not any kind of message that I would support.

So after seeing these disturbing things all week, it was very refreshing to listen to what Jennifer Lawrence had to say on the subject of body image. You know, because she gets called fat sometimes, which is as crazy as calling the model I showed above plus-sized. Seriously, you need to click on this link in order to restore your faith in humanity somewhat (okay, that was a tad more dramatic than necessary). She talks about how when she gets criticized for how she looks, it's supposed to be okay because that's just how things work in the "real world." She basically asks, why does the real world have to be that way? And I absolutely agree. Why does the real world have to be cold and cruel? If you ask most people that question, they will say that that's just the way things are and it's good for people to get used to it. Well, you know what? It is only that way for as long as people accept it, for as long as people do nothing to try to change anything. I want to try to change things. Yes, my blog by no means reaches as many people as Jennifer Lawrence does, but it still reaches someone. And that's enough for me.

In case you were wondering, I have no idea why this picture says 2012. I guess I could make up some deep, metaphysical reason, but I'm too lazy right now.