What is plus size anyway?

It is something that used to make my face sting with embarrassment actually. Walking by all these beautifully cut clothing, cut for people admittedly and very obviously smaller than me. The first time I had to go up a size was in 2007, at the end of it. I went to a cheap clothing shop and the jeans there were £5. Great, but a size 12 was xl in there. By 2008 I had to squash into an xxl and by the end there was no hope. So I was size 16/18 not too bad.Here is where it hit me. I walk into a clothing store. I was looking in the what I guess must be ‘size’ clothing and I couldn’t find an 18 in a particular style of jeans. Maybe this was the clothing gods telling me that if I can’t shop in the ‘size’ section I can no longer wear jeans. (Might be correct).So then I went to the ‘plus size’ section. That is fine, I will buy things from there because what choice do I really have at this point?But I have some questions!

• What size is it I am plused from?
• If ‘size’ clothing goes up to say a 16 then 16 and over is ‘plus sized’ or is it from 0? In which case we are all ‘plus size’
• Who decided where the start point of ‘size’ is?
• Can size 0 go into a ‘no size’ section? Some people don’t think 0 is not a number, right?
• If the national average is 16 then why do some shops stock it in the ‘plus size’ section?
• Why is it normally at the back of the store? Do swarms of fatties like me buying clothes put ‘size’ people off their shopping?
• Why do they all have strange names for these ‘plus size’? Is it because ‘Hammock Size’ isn’t really okay to use?
• I don’t understand the cut on things. The T-shirt in ‘size’ section will have a waist definition, in ‘plus size’ it’s like a teepee with arm holes, and that is only if you can get it in the same style to begin with.
• Why do they all have strange patterns? I don’t like to wear curtains, and equally I see strange wolf prints and tiny lace trim. ‘Plus size’ does not mean we don’t have taste (clearly you need to see a ‘plus sized’ blog or two)
• Could the ‘size’ section be called the ‘Minus Size’ bit?

And I shouldn’t have read it but I saw an article linked from the DailyFail and one of the bullet points was:

Plus size models who range from a UK size 14 to size 22 are changing the face of fashion

Size 14 is plus sized now? I no longer understand the variable in this. I also read about a thing called ‘Skinny Fat’, this is when you are say a 12 but might have a tummy or muffin top. So even if you are slender you might be called fat! Shocking.

While the article it’s self is actually a really positive step forward and I refuse to link to it – you can google it, I can’t help feeling like next week we will be back to having size zero diets, new fads, new pills and a new way to go from being ‘plus sized’ to ‘super skinny jeans’ shoved down our throats.

The fact that a ‘plus sized’ model has made the front page of anything is just an example of the fact that we are still not in a place where being anything other than ‘size’ is acceptable, and that is pretty sad.

Can someone please tell me, what is plus size anyway?