How do clothing sizes affect the body image of Hong Kong women?
It’s no secret that the media, and the fashion industry in particular, strongly influence how women perceive their bodies. Whether this is the way that clothes are advertised (modeled on the bodies of highly overrepresented, thin body types) or the way that they are laid out in the store (e.g. The fact that you have to dig for larger sizes), the experience of shopping for clothing can definitely trigger many body image insecurities.
With this in mind, I decided to go on a mini undercover mission to investigate the clothing scene in Hong Kong - specifically, in the local malls that many young people choose to shop at. Here are a few things I noted:
Many stores only carry the smallest size, meaning that if you want anything bigger than what is considered “average”, you have to actively ask for it, or order it.
Staff members will not hesitate to bluntly comment on how a certain clothing item looks - expect to hear, “You look really fat in that - why don’t you try this one?”
There was, surprisingly, one store that was advertised to cater to curvier bodies. Obviously, not as good as a store with an integration of different sizes, but the acknowledge of different sizes in Hong Kong, in and of itself, is an impressive step forward.
The limited representation of bodies in Asian contexts is a concern, because it has served to create a sense of “normative thinness”, or a space where people perceive that “thin” is “just how everyone is.” A study carried out by Mase et al. supports this idea, suggesting that Asian women are less concerned about absolute numbers (weight and body fat percentage), and more worried about how their bodies compare to those of their peers or even to their past selves. As inherently social creatures, the fear of not conforming to peers is a very real one, and the pressure to conform can result in many maladaptive outcomes such as depression, low self-esteem and self-harm behaviors.
From the perspective of a store-owner:
Interviewing these incredible women!
I had the opportunity to set up a conversation with Cindy, a store owner who seeks to change the norm that customers need to fit into predetermined sizes. She highlighted that at the end of the day, clothing producers need customers (i.e. YOU!) in order to continue their businesses. It should arguably be their priority to make sure that their customers are happy and comfortable in their brand. As Cindy put it, she always wants her customers to feel their best in the clothing that she has designed, and for her, that means catering to her customers’ needs.
From the perspective of a celebrity:
I also got to speak to Belinda, a celebrity in Hong Kong who is one of the few public figures in Hong Kong who is willing to speak openly about her struggles with an eating disorder. As someone who is constantly in the spotlight, she spoke about how she constantly felt pressured to fit into a pre-existing mold, which resulted in the development of her eating disorder. Her recovery inspired her to use her public persona in a purposeful way - to model and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as enjoying exercise and food, instead of merely posting pictures that perpetuate an “ideal” body shape.
The main takeaway from this article is NOT that we should all become overly concerned about how clothing fits us or how it looks on us - instead, it highlights the importance of making it a habit to question the norm - why should we be made to feel bad about not fitting into a generic size? - in order to be less concerned about this issue.
Instead of starting from a glass-half-empty mindset (“What is wrong with me/what am I lacking?”), we can make it a goal to begin with our glasses half full: “What do I have already and how can I make the most of these resources?”
To learn more about the study on normative thinness:
Mase, T., Ohara, K., Miyawaki, C., Kouda, K., & Nakamura, H. (2015). Influences of peers’ and family members’ body shapes on perception of body image and desire for thinness in Japanese female students. International Journal of Women’s Health, 7, 625–633. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S82193