I’m going to make this short and sweet and to the point. This is a post about inclusion.
There are lots of organizations that I love to support. When they don’t have shirts that will fit me it makes me think they don’t really want my support. I know this probably isn’t the case but that’s the feeling that comes across. It’s like they’re saying “Thank you for the money but we don’t want people to know that big girls like our stuff.”
I know that sounds drastic but you can liken it to cultural sensitivity. I know you’re probably thinking that this is a stretch but it isn’t. The feeling is from the same place. I honestly believe that the lack of diversity in many advertisements (of small businesses especially) is because the person just didn’t think about it. Here’s an example:
I am in a mastermind group. It’s a group of entrepreneurs that come together to talk about ways to grow their businesses. A person recently posted 4 graphics that were illustrations of women. Of the 4 graphics posted, only one had varying shades of skin color. To be honest, they were more like tan, not tan, pale, and olive. They weren’t exactly the people of the world but it was close enough to show some diversity. I chose that graphic and stated that it was because of the diversity. Most of the other people chose different graphics. I don’t think they chose those because they are racist people and only want to see themselves. I think it’s because they didn’t even think to include others. They don’t understand what it’s like to not be included.
And this takes us to the big girl problem. We are often not included. Not because people are mean or cold-hearted and want to teach us a lesson. It’s because people don’t know how to address it. They don’t know that a women’s large shirt is like a baby top on many of us. They don’t realize that even though they wear a small, a large just isn’t that much bigger. So when we go to buy your shirts and realize that you don’t sell anything we can wear, we think you don’t want us to wear it. But we have money and we want to spend it and we want you to be aware that we’re here. So, the next time you’re creating shirts for your followers and supporters, add some larger sizes in there. I mean, unless you really don’t want us to wear them…
