The Cost of Being Fat (And a Woman)

I’ll have a lot more to say about the Fat Tax because that shit is real. This is about fandom shirts specifically. This shirt was an ad that showed up on my Facebook feed.

I don’t claim to understand it, but there it is.

I don’t claim to understand it, but there it is.

Now, the above t-shirt isn’t maybe my cup of tea exactly, but it is pretty awesome. What do you think the largest size available was?

Surprisingly, it was actually a 3XL. But that’s still not big enough to fit me or a lot of fans I know. Of course, that’s a “unisex” t-shirt. Or really, a men’s shirt. These are the kinds of shirts Facebook shows me ALL. THE. TIME. And while this one maybe wasn’t for me, I see shirts that I LOVE and know that there’s almost no hope of one fitting me.

These shirts are from the same site. The top shirt is the Men’s and the bottom shirt is the Women’s. You can see that the women’s shirt is cut differently: Scoop neck, narrower shoulders, wider at the bottom for hips. But where a men’s goes to a 3XL, a women’s shirt only goes to a 2XL. Which is probably about the same size as a men’s large.

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Now this shirt… this is something I might like to have. It’s both explicitly a shirt about my fandom and makes a cool, inside reference to Endgame. And to my surprise and delight, it actually comes in my size (yeah, see what I did there?). But look at this.

There are 5 color options for a unisex 5XL. But for a unisex S… there are EIGHT. And then let’s look at the price difference. For fewer options and a shirt that is likely to not feel comfortable on me, I get the privilege of paying $4 more. Lucky, lucky me. And if I want a women’s cut (not that it has a size to fit me anyway)?

Well, that is an additional $5 or $7 depending on what kind of neck I’d like. So, not just a fat tax but ALSO a pink tax.

I don’t really think there’s much more I need to say about this. The photos are enough. This is what it is like. Finding a shirt that looks good, feels good, fits and is fun and expressive of who you are comes at a price if you’re fat. Or a woman. Or both.