Daily we are bombarded with images of beautiful women. These beautiful women all have one thing in common. They are skinny. Just like there is a varying range of fat women there is a varying range of skinny women; and it seems different mediums have their favorites to sell products whether it be a handbag or internet services. The most commonly complained about are those appearing in fashion magazines which over the last year it has been shown thinks nothing about altering the image of these supposedly ideal women.

There is an ever growing movement to have "real women" represented in all media avenues but especially print and television. Unfortunately within this movement for "real women" the skinny women are often being attacked and in some cases almost as brutally as some fat women.

We need to take a step back and remember that we are all real women and even though the overweight are currently in majority we are not demanding all fat all the time. Yes, we want real women, we want real women of all sizes all the time. This also includes short women, tall women, and women of a variety of ethnicity.

We know there are specialty magazines but even those can be pretty narrow minded. A magazine for tall women for example may show all tall women as skinny amazons when in fact there are many beautiful curvy amazons out there who are constantly unrecognized. The artist's vision behind the lens as well as those of magazine editors (and those doing the photo touch-ups) needs to broaden (there's having a demographic and there's forcing a demographic). But as we are working to get them to do so we must have respect for our skinny sisters who are also real women. Attack the medium, not the woman.

Over the last year we have seen token strides by popular magazines to be more inclusive by including full figured women in special inserts once a quarter or once a year specifically for the curvy shopper. But we want more. If supposedly 60% of the population is overweight then shouldn't they be included in every issue?

In the meantime, plus size women need to be more conscious of their requests for "real women" and not do the very thing to skinny women (regardless if they are deemed a minority or not) that we feel has been done to us. In all honesty I have done this myself. But on reflection I realize I do not want the demise of the skinny woman. I think she is beautiful too. I really just want variety and I want to see myself represented or even nearly represented.

I realize there can be only so much inclusion. We are such a diverse species but to exclude the majority of the population on a regular basis is rude and unwise; whether they are curvy or skinny. All women are real. All men are real for that matter.

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M. E. Wood lives in Eastern Ontario, Canada. She has been a content writer for ten years and a blogger for six. If you are going to find this eclectic reader and writer anywhere it is probably at her computer.