Results: A Positive Step Or Not?

When Nike rolled out its "plus size" mannequins for the launch of the new "Women by Nike" floor in NikeTown London last week, many cheered that the athletic company was promoting a more realistic body type. Others, however, decried the move as dangerous, saying that Nike was promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. A spokesperson for Nike said that their mission is to "serve all athletes" regardless of size. Do you think that having a "plus size" mannequin is a positive step by promoting a more realistic body type or promoting an unhealthy lifestyle?

Last year, Racked (a retail and shopping website which covers style) reported that the average American woman is 5 ft., 3 in. tall, weights 168.5 lbs., and wears a size 16 or 18. The website also noted that in the United States, sizes 14 and up are considered "plus size," though the term is often considered to be antiquated. Do you think that the label of "plus size" should be changed so that sizes 14 to 18 (the average size women in the U.S. wear) is no longer considered "plus size"?

Telegraph writer Tanya Gold wrote a reaction piece entitled, "Obese Mannequins Are Selling Women A Dangerous Lie," in which she calls what Nike is doing "unhealthy". "The fat-acceptance movement, which says that any weight is healthy if it is yours, is no friend to women, even if it does seem to have found a friend in Nike. It may, instead, kill them, and that is rather worse than feeling sad," the article read. "Fat-acceptance is an artifice of denial – they are fat because they do not accept themselves". Reaction to her piece was very vocal and immediate. One called the piece "fatphobic, pointless, bigoted abuse," and many people were quick to point out the irony of Gold claiming it's "unhealthy" to show a plus-size mannequin, when the mannequin is literally wearing workout clothes. Do you agree with this reaction piece?