On Being Midsized

I am a midsized woman.

This means that I wear anywhere from a L-2X depending on the store.

Everyone I know has a complaint about their body. And most of those people have complaints about how their body relates to clothing that typical stores carry. The plus sized girls can't find anything cute in their size. The stick-thin girls can't fill out the butt of their jeans. The big chested girls look too top-heavy. The small chested girls don't look top-heavy enough. And the petite girls that have to hem every damn thing they buy.

We all have issues. That is something we have in common.

But I want to take a moment to recognize the midsized women out there who may not always experience the common shopping dilemmas that other women face. Or may experience those, in addition to a plethora of unique experiences.

I don't know of many stores that do this, but DEB splits their store right down the middle. Plus size is off to one side, and non-plus size is off to the other. But what about me? I am sitting right on the line between plus size and non. The plus size items in this store are a little above my range. And the non items are a little below my range.

Waaaah!!!

And then of course we've got stores out there that only cater to one size demographic, but have another store that carries similar clothing in higher sizes. Think Hot Topic and Torrid. This means that I have to go to not one, but TWO different stores with nearly identical items and face double the amount of "why don't they carry my size" than the average woman.

I am grateful to stores who carry plus size options because generally it's easier for me to take a plus size garment and get it altered than it is to add something to something that is too small. But I just wish the middle group wasn't forgotten so often.