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    A “plus-size” feature from the January 1998 issue of Seventeen Magazine
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    A “plus-size” feature from the January 1998 issue of Seventeen Magazine

    A “plus-size” feature from the January 1998 issue of Seventeen Magazine

    Posted by Ok_Wolfie_11

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    46 Comments

    4. forteninsecure on

      Truly the late 90s/early aughts were all about giving as many women as possible the lowest self esteem imaginable and assigning eating disorders to everyone individually

    6. laureng0423 on

      Ugh remember when the early 2000s would say all the pop girls were overweight? Remember how they used to publish photos of women’s *cellulite* and act as if it was so disgusting?!!

    7. Me_and_Casey on

      Growing up in the late 90s was…a challenge. Sending hugs to all of us who made it through in spite of every single piece of media targeting teenage girls being a very hostile one.

    8. IndignantQueef on

      I remember this! I loved Seventeen and was 17 in 1998. Felt like a huge deal to see a “big” girl like me. I was a size 12/14 and had to shop for old lady clothes at Lane Bryant because regular stores did not go up that high. I fell in love with Old Navy and GAP around this time because they went up to a 16 in store. This was before online shopping took off so we were very limited. There was actually a store in my mall called 5-7-9 and those were the sizes they carried.

      And yeah, insane to call this plus size or fat, but this was considered big back then. I look back at photos and I cannot fathom thinking I was fat. I work out 6 days a week (bc I love it) and I’m still a size 14 lol. I actually tried to be anorexic after reading an essay in Seventeen about a “big” girl who weighed 129 pounds. Didn’t work out for me but binge eating sure did.

    9. gruesometwosome27 on

      Ok sizes have definitely changed over time, because that girl is NOT a size 14. MAYBE a 6 and in no way plus sized

    12. Perfect-Celery1662 on

      We all thought we were so fat. Its unreal to look at pictures from that time and remember how hideous these magazines had us feeling for literally just being proportionally built for being a taller girl

    13. Fragrant-Tradition-2 on

      I was a size 14 in the 90s and hated it and hated myself. Looking back, I can see that I was gorgeous. I never suffered for romantic interest and I had lots of friends, but I was convinced I was the most hideous monster on the planet.

    14. LazyAmbassador2521 on

      “What it’s like to be the *fat girl*” I graduated from HS in ’08, and even tho I was 5′,8″ weighed 120 pounds…I felt like I was fat. I felt like I was fat because of these magazines that I read every single day.

      Now this obsession with being skinny is making a comeback because of social media and Ozempic, and I feel so fucking bad for these young girls.

    16. pathologicfaults on

      I swear to god the not-clinical-but-still-unhealthy disordered eating I dealt with for like 15–20 years, thanks to coverage like this, is like half the reason I have autoimmune disease today. 

    17. TamalesForBreakfast6 on

      Wow, why did almost all of end up with an eating disorder? Wonders will never cease.
      ![gif](giphy|TGi1zmIHpDRsrxtoPq)

    20. VolupVeVa on

      As a twenty-something that worked at a plus-size retailer from 1999-2001 I can confirm that garments that weren’t polyester pant suits or cruise-wear in sizes over 12 were a *goddamn revelation*.

    23. Commercial-Spinach93 on

      These girls are a size 6 and need to be ‘distorted’ because they’re too fat to be in a magazine lol. God.

      I was 11 and would soon be diagnosed with an ED. I had my last admission just before turning 30. I barely made it out alive.

      I don’t think my ED had anything to do with magazines or even wanting to be thin, but they made it so easy.

    25. Jahadaz on

      Now that you mention it, I do have a “sorta” boyfriend. 

      Wonder where I can read that article? 

    27. ratparty5000 on

      Shit like this make me want to lift weight and get big so I can stomp this shit our!! Growing up in this period was EVIL

    30. The_starving_artist5 on

      And now it’s back worse than ever. Just wait magazines and articles online will be posting this kind of toxic stuff again. As the trend swings back to extreme thin whorship people will act like a normal size is huge again. They will act like size 14 is massive even though it isn’t . The culture right now is preaching the same toxic skinny obsession culture all over again. I feel sorry for any teenager growing up now in the 2020s. History is repeating itself. Ozmepic is spreading anorexia like crazy now . I have seen parents and teachers online saying that highschools are now full of offbrand glp-1 drugs. It’s so bad already that’s teenagers are already taking this stuff . It’s the 90s 2000s all over again. I’ve seen people online saying girls are being bullied in school now for being bigger than a size 2. Parents saying their already skinny daughter was told she was fat by her peers because she wasn’t size zero skinny . It’s insane how bad it’s getting already. Size zero culture has returned to ruin the next generation 

    31. butchelves on

      Seeing shit like this makes me really grateful for my mom and the fact that she wasn’t an almond mom. I distinctly remember asking her when I was a kid in the early 2000s if I should go on a diet because my tummy was round and she was like “you’re 8??? Wtf you’re growing and no 8 year old needs a diet”. My full sugar soda queen thank you for not subjecting me to generational EDs 🫡🫡

    32. Xamalion on

      ![gif](giphy|Zcyizj1FxiI8oVpro1)
      She hired the smart fat girl. And although it was meant as a joke, it perfectly transported the mid 00’s fat shaming of perfectly looking girls.

    35. -EvilLittleGoat- on

      I’ll never forget shopping for a prom dress in the 90s. Everyone was wearing the satin sheath dresses and I could not find one that my legs would fit in until I found one with a slit that gave me a little extra room. I was 5’9” and only weighed about 140 pounds, but my legs had muscle because I played both tennis and soccer. The sales person made me feel like I was so overweight and then my peers at prom people called me a slut because of the slit.

      I do not know how we made it out and I’m worried about the girls living through this again.

    38. heartsbeenborrowed on

      I was 5’7″ and 143 lbs and considered plus sized back then. My friends would refer to me as the big one bc they were all smaller. Even when I got down to 125, I was still the “big” friend in a size 6/8 and not a 0. I had disordered eating and bed for most of my life. I would do slimfast crash diets and spend hours at the gym. My blood work was awful. I hated myself so deeply. I wouldn’t let anyone take my picture. Now I’m old and actually obese with multiple chronic illnesses. A big fuck you to these magazines and this time period. And a big fuck you to glp1 and diet culture comeback. This shit destroys lives. 

    39. Three3Jane on

      I remember finding a photo at my mom’s house a few years back. I’m GenX, 55 years old. Said photo was of a blonde teenager making a face at the camera, sitting on the floor, in shorts and a tank top.

      The girl in the photos was so thin, like painfully thin, all shrieking teeth, sharp jawline, bony clavicles, hollow eye sockets, bony knees. I was like holy hell mom who the fuck is this kid?

      She laughed and said, “That’s YOU. Remember when you were thin? Bet you miss being that thin now, how?”

      I literally did not recognize myself from that picture. I was so incredibly thin and when she said that, I was like omg that was me at 17. When I was eating one orange a day and doing extra punishment laps in the pool for the days I “slipped up” and had a few french fries and I still felt like a cow and saw a fat person when I looked in the mirror.

      When she made that crack about “bet you miss being that thin now”, I was maybe 140 pounds and a size 8, after having two kids. My mom used to directly compete with me about weight and yes, I was anorexic and bulimic in part due to her constant commentary and bullying about how “boys don’t like fat girls”. (Joke’s on her, I met my husband a few days shy of my 17th birthday and we’re still together almost 40 years later).

      We don’t talk any more; that and so many other things made me realize what an incredibly toxic person she was.

    45. _darkclam on

      No wonder I’m so f’d up when it comes to how I view and treat my body. This is a nice reminder.