Have you ever wondered about stores dedicated to plus-size women with trendy affordable clothing? Of course not, because they don’t exist.  

But, naturally, the men’s version of this does.  

Now there are stores like Torrid, an American plus-size fashion store that was founded in 2001. This is a women’s retail chain that was formerly owned by Hot Topic. They sell plus-size women’s fashion, advertising the latest trends at an affordable price. But they’re incredibly rare. 

Big-and-tall stores are apparel stores that are dedicated to men who are big-and-tall. Some of these might include DXL or the Big and Tall Outlet, which are entire stores tailored to a certain body type. There are many big and tall stores that exist throughout the country.   

The number of men’s plus-size clothing stores compared to women’s is incomparable.  

If you search up the women’s equivalent, the options that come up are JCPenney, Old Navy and other stores that have a small plus-size section in their store. These limited options of clothes are ugly and never fit quite right.  

Once again, we see that there isn’t just a bias against plus size bodies but a bias against women. Raise your hand if you’re shocked. 

While stores are beginning to include plus-size sections in their stores, it’s not enough.  

I’m not sure what got lost in translation when corporations made entire stores that have a variety of clothing for men that are plus-size and decided to not do the same for women. I guess they don’t think women grow past a size 10.  

Another point to be made is the difference in terminology. “Plus-size” vs. “big-and-tall.” When talking about women’s bodies, and fashion in particular, the terminology is so delicate. This implies that using words like “fat” or “big” are negative. But when those words are used on men no one bats an eye. That’s because society has trained us to believe that a woman being big or fat is negative. If a man is fat, though, it’s normal. Acceptable.  

Describing someone as “skinny” is fine, but “fat” is crossing a line.  

There is a surplus of clothing for the “standard” body type that are overflowing the Goodwill bins, a surplus of stores that cater to them and a surplus of stores for men, no matter what size they are. But fat women can’t walk into a store and buy something that is cute and fits them correctly.  

This is not just fat vs. skinny, but also man vs. woman.  

Fat women deserve to have the same amount of clothing options as men and skinny women.