Forever 21 gives you the skinny, in jean form, and otherwise.

The following post was written by 16-year-old About-Face supporter Haley:

I think I can speak for most girls my age when I say that my generation is an impressionable one. Knowing this, companies constantly bombard us with manipulative ads and products that make us feel worse about ourselves than we already do.

Take skinny jeans, for example. Those things have been around for years, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. My friends don’t wear any other type of jeans, and they’re certainly the only style I own. But I wish that wasn’t the case. Not only do skinny jeans sexualize girls of all ages to an extent that frightens me — I mean, really, some girls can’t even sit down in them, they’re so tight — but wearing pants with a name like that is just plain problematic.

Sure, tell me that the term “skinny” just refers to how snugly they fit, but the truth is that skinny jeans send some not-so-subtle messages to consumers: you must be extremely thin in order to wear them. And when a disturbing sentiment like that catapults into the media, our culture becomes more and more weighed down by false beauty ideals. As if we needed any more of that. Continue reading →