Marilyn Monroe a Size 16? Yeah, right.

One day after school when I was in 9th grade, I was rummaging through my mother’s old clothes from the 1970s in search of jeans. I finally pulled out a pair of bell bottoms, shook out any errant spiders, and tried them on. They fit! When I got them off again, I checked the size – they were a size 10. Now, at the time, I was a scrawny little nothing, weighing less than 110 lbs (which I recall because I was not allowed to donate blood that year). All my store-bought jeans were a size 3. But those size 3 jeans were based on late 1990s sizing, not historic sizes.

I've known some heavy women who make themselves feel better by saying, “Well, Marilyn Monroe was a size 16, so that just means our society’s standard of beauty has changed.” This is only partly true. A society's view of beauty always changes, but let's not sully Ms. Monroe's good name! And men have always preferred curves. Yes, Marilyn Monroe would be considered far too plump to be a super model, but I don’t know any men who think that Kate Moss is actually hot. So has society really changed that much since the 1950s?

Careful. You might break it.

Also, Marilyn Monroe was NOT a size 16 by modern women’s size standards. These women are fooling themselves, or reading stupid email forwards.

Exponentially hotter than previous pic.

The sizes worn by modern ladies are completely different than what our mothers wore. The only women’s clothing that has stayed constant in sizing are custom clothing (clothing made from patterns) and high-end bridal clothing (which I recently discovered).

I’m not trying to say that big women are not beautiful, or that skinny women are prettier (again, Anorexia = Not Hot).

Also, Auschwitz Victim = Not Hot.

I’m just pointing out that Marilyn Monroe was voluptuous, but she was nowhere near a contemporary size 16, and she’d probably cringe to hear women of today trying to compare her to a Lane Bryant model.

She's better than Auschwitz girl though, right?