This Shouldn't Surprise Me...

Over the past week or so there has been a Pennington's commercial on TV.  For those of you who don't know, Pennington's is a clothing store for women who wear larger sizes.  The commercial they are showing is for some very pretty lingerie; bras and panties. 

Now, there are advertisements all the time for women's underwear.  From Sears to Victoria Secret, we're inundated on a daily basis with images of very slender women posing in their underwear.

But this ad, REALLY caught my attention the first time I saw it; and I realized it was because the models in the commercial are "plus size" models.  They were women who looked like they'd likely be a size 14 or 16. 

And THAT is RARE!

Which makes me a little sad.  We are bombarded with SO many media images every day of women; women in fashion magazines; women in commercials; women promoting every product imaginable.  But there are so few big women around in print media or commercials that to see them prominently featured in an ad was surprising; and to see them in an underwear ad was downright startling.

But I don't want to be startled by seeing other curvy women in advertising.  So, I've found some pictures that I'd like to share, and that I'd like all of us to use.

There's a terrible "trick" some women use to lose weight.  They put up tons of pictures of super skinny women, to try to "motivate" themselves into losing weight.  I think that's a terrible idea.  I think it's more motivating to look at pictures of beautiful women of various sizes to remind ourselves that we are beautiful, powerful women no matter what size we wear. 

So, these pics are for you to print off and post around you, or to simply save to your computer to look at when you need reminding that we don't all have to be a size 2 to be beautiful.

We'll begin with another ad for underwear featuring a plus size model.  Beautiful underwear, beautiful lady!

Pretty Polka Dots!!

Cute!

Stylin'!!  :)

A couple of pictures to remind ourselves that the beauty/sexy standards have not always been the same and may change again.

A LOT of Super Sexy Ladies!!!

What a great colour!!!

Easy, Causal Style!

And these gorgeous dresses are for when you want to look like a Goddess.  :)

Elegance and style for an evening out.

Fun, pretty daytime looks.

Now, before I post this last picture, I want to assure you that I am not posting it for shock value, or as something that is meant to be titillating   (That word alone makes me giggle, so trust me, that's not the goal here!)

I don't see this picture as sexual in nature at all, in spite of the fact that it depicts two naked women embracing.  I really believe the picture is meant to depict nuturing and a kind of motherly/sisterly love.  I believe it was taken to show the way in which our society has faltered when it comes to our representation of women in the media.  

In the picture a healthy-sized woman is hugging an incredibly slender, rather frail and ill looking woman.  It is meant to show the difference between what is real and what we are taught to believe is real.  As the caption on the picture says, most runway models meet the BMI physical criteria for anorexia.  And I think this picture shows that, very pointedly.  

Finally, I want to remind you that even the women in these pictures have had a team of trained stylists work on their hair and make-up for hours and they have been air-brushed and glossed over big time.  They are not completely true representations either.  But I wanted to share them to help us better understand that beauty truly doesn't stop at a size 4.

And here's ones last one to inspire us!