While working at Forever 21 for the short amount of time I did, I always dreaded when a woman walked up to me and said, “Where is your Plus Size section?”. Not only could I tell that she did not want to have to ask me that question, I didn’t want to have to answer it with, “Over there in that corner.” and point to a section that they could hardly even see. And that was when I wasn’t placed in that section. When I was placed in the section, which was more often than I think was needed, I always self consciously thought, “They put me here because I’m Plus Size.”, which I’m sure wasn’t true but it still entered my brain. The Plus Size section is shoved in the corner of a huge store because for some reason, Plus Size women can’t have the same amount of variety as “normal sized” women. Just the phrase “Plus Size” is degrading, all women are beautiful, no matter what size they are. So why even have a separate section at all?

Having a completely separate section for Plus Size clothing is completely unnecessary. It makes the women that need to shop in that section feel separated from everyone else. You don’t know how many times I saw a group of friends walk in and one girl, because she was considered Plus Size, had to separate from her friends and shop by herself. All the while she looked completely defeated when she got to the section, because the size of it is ridiculous compared to the rest of the store. Plus Size sections don’t have even half the amount of clothing the rest of the store has. Even the Forever 21 in New York City, which has three floors, only has a Plus Size section tucked in the back corner on the bottom floor. Stores feel the need to put the section somewhere that makes anyone Plus Size feel like they are not welcome in the rest of the store. In the Forever 21 I worked at, it was conveniently placed next to the jewelry section, so that they didn’t have to walk through the store for jewelry. To make it even better, jewelry was right next to the registers, ensuring that any Plus Size women didn’t have to walk through the whole store and see all the cute clothing they missed out on because they are “too big”.

Let’s talk about clothes, shall we? At Forever 21 we size our jeans according to the European sizing system. In short we size by adding 21 to your normal pant size. Except, if you’re a size 12, you are considered Plus Size. Girls would walk up to me and ask, “How does your sizing work?” and my answer was always, “What size do you normally wear?”. If they said they wore a size 12 I had to give them the news that unfortunately Forever 21 places size 12 and up in the Plus Size section. Some girls would joke with me and say how stupid it was, some would look at me as if I had just told them that someone had died, and others would mutter an upset, “Oh…” and would wander off to find the section. The clothing in the Plus Size section is also more expensive, I understand that more fabric is used but it makes anyone Plus Size spend more money than they normally should. At Forever 21 they are known for $7.90 Denim, unless you’re Plus Size, then denim is around $9 or more. It’s not a huge price difference, but it is higher in price. Why change the price?

Overall, the need for a completely separate section for Plus Size women is unnecessary. Now, you see completely separate stores for anyone who is Plus Size. Having a separate section makes the women that shop there feel like they don’t belong in the store. I fully believe that sizes should range from XS-3X and all go out on the main floor, not hidden away in a corner. Women already judge each other depending on how big they are, stores don’t need to make it worse.