The privilege spectrum has introduced a new member among its ranks: “Thin Privilege.”
According to writer Cora Harrington, founder of The Lingerie Addict and author of the book In Intimate Detail, the concept of “thin privilege” is not just the age-old “beautiful people get all the attention” complaint typically seen among feminists, but rather the capacity to “walk into any clothing store and expect to see a wide range of options in your size, you are thin.”
Behold her long-winded Twitter post explaining this:
The whole theory recalls a recent story about a plus-sized woman who lamented in a long blog-post at the Huffington Post that Universal Studios literally “fat-shamed” her because she was unable to safely fit on the Harry Potter ride. “Rather than turning people away daily from an incredible Hogwarts moment, Universal Studios could have simply designed and built a ride from the start that welcomed a diverse range of body sizes, especially as more and more Americans identify as fat or plus size,” the woman wrote.
Harrington’s post has since earned 40,000 likes; she told “Good Morning America” that some have responded intensely. One Twitter user even told her to hang herself. Despite that, she’s sticking to her theory.
“Society, in general, is structured around the assumption that people will be or should be a certain way. Thin privilege is a system of benefits or advantages that society gives you for looking or being a certain way,” she told Good Morning America.
Harrington went on to say that clothing stores should cater to people of all sizes.
“People of all sizes should actually be able to shop for and find products in stores,” Harrington continued. “That’s a starting step, because if you can’t even find clothes that fit you, then so much that happens in the fashion industry is not going to be applicable to you.”