Jamelia: 'High street shops shouldn't sell plus size clothing'

Okay so first of all I haven't read all of the replies, but I still wanted to post my views (so I'm sorry if I'm regurgitating someone's answer!).

Right, I'm a 16 year old so I haven't got all the worldy wisdom that most posters have. But I am a size 12/14 (I am striving to lose weight simply because I want to get fitter) and I do understand what it feels like to be ashamed of your body. I wanted you to know that before you all accuse me of not knowing what it's like, and having a 'perfect body'.

I don't get why everyone is jumping down Jamelia's throat. So what if she's not academically bright, or quite silly? Why on earth should that cloud your judgement of her statement? I personally agree with her; the high street and the media are normalizing obesity to such an extent that 60% of my generation are obese. It should be prevented because obesity costs the NHS billions of pounds per year simply because people aren't living a healthy lifestyle. It strains the economy, and provides a market for the mass slaughter of animals (I am a vegan and feel very strongly about the death of innocent animals so lesser humans can turn them into a cheap hamburger). And it does affect the quality of life a person has: practically every type of illness is increasing (depression, cancer, heart disease etc) and obesity has a direct correlation with it. So think of your health and say no to the next chance of a McDonald's, and opt for healthy foods and a brisk walk around the block.

Additionally, she basically says the same thing about unhealthy skinny sizes. Yet no one is commenting on that... and it's because people are scared of using the word 'fat' because they'll too get their tongues ripped out. Doctors are subscribing more and more unnecessary medication to people who need a healthy dose of reality.
And it's not as though obese people won't have any clothes, so quite being melodramatic. The impression I got was that there'll just be a more distinct line in the high street. Evans will still exist and new shops designed for obese people will open (because the market is a too big opportunity to miss, and everyone's so greedy these days). It's just there'll be separate shop for 'ordinary' sized humans, another for underweight/naturally smaller humans and another branch the obese/naturally larger (though nobody is a size 20 naturally, sorry).

Sorry if I've offended anyone or if you don't agree. It can't be helped. And it's not like Jamelia's idea is ever going to launch; people in power are too scared to do anything significant these days in case they get voted out of power. Obesity AND anorexia is wrong and both and are being normalized by the media and high streets. So do something about it so you'll be able to fit into some great clothes and look fab... and if 'civilization' is suddenly destroyed and we have to scavenge off the land again, take note that it's not going to be the overweight people or the anorexic people who survive... it'll be the healthiest. That's why it's called the survival of the fittest. So go out and strive for your idea of fit and get healthy.

I'm confused Jamelia.
Were there no fat people then before Penney's stocked a size 18?


Oh they were, you say? So are there more fat people now because Penney's stocks a size 18?


You're not sure but obesity levels have been rising since approx the 1940s due to significant changes in dietary habits, lifestyle, and we're still conducting research into the mechanisms of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. But you're confident that only stocking sizes 8-12 will reverse the obesity epidemic?

Grand.

Candie wrote: »

When will it be okay to harass people for drinking to excess or for smoking? We as a society are being neglectful of these folks health by allowing them to live in peace. It's like, SOOOO bad for their health that we should be doing them that favour. Ostracising them even, for their own sake, because anything else is pretending it's okay. And that's not ok!

We do tell over- drinkers and smokers that's it's bad for their health. We do ostracise them. We're not allowed to say that to fat people in case we hurt their feelings. Anything that might even vaguely relate to appearance we're just not allowed to talk about because society is currently obsessed with it.

Tarzana2 wrote: »

People have argued on here before that smokers ARE ostracised (the smoking ban etc.), but I don't agree with that. Smoking is harmful to people other than the person smoking, unlike people being overweight (the exception being when an overweight person spills into the seat next to them on public transport and that's more an annoyance rather than being harmful), so creating an environment where non-smokers are free from that harm is not ostracising smokers, IMO.

This is far too simplistic. Many diseases are directly attributable to overweight and obesity, which has a knock on effect on health spending. Add to this, normalising overweight and obesity has created an epidemic. It's not OK to not keep your weight in check if you can.

RosieLion wrote: »

Right, I'm a 16 year old so I haven't got all the worldy wisdom that most posters have.

I don't care what age you are, I think your post was great.

My opinion is that there is no need to have bigger than a size 16 in high street shops. People need to take responsibility for their weight, be that eating better, exercising or seeing a professional if they have exhausted these avenues without success. These "plus size" models going around talking about inner beauty bla bla bla, it's got nothing to do with your appearance at all. If you want to inevitably end up with diabetes, heart disease, losing limbs, vision and mobility then it really doesn't matter if you're happy with your body or not. Clothes will be the least of your worries.

"I really respect anything Jamelia says" said nobody, ever.