Luckily for Jo, she's been fairly vocal about her weight loss both in interviews and on her social media, so expertly dodged the question and moved onto more pressing topics, including "do you think we're going to see another wine throw tonight?"
If you're not sure how to greet someone who's lost a bit of weight since the last time you saw them, one simple suggestion includes: "Hi, how are you? Great to see you!"
Troy's throwaway comment is by no means the worst we've seen on the experiment, in fact, it's fairly tame by comparison, but it does beg the question: why does it matter what size someone is?
And on top of just being plain rude, what sort of information is Troy sourcing with this type of question—is he planning on buying her a dress? Some jeans? Or was it to provide some sort of validation that she now fits into society's "standard" size?
Even if that were the case, everybody knows you're never the same size in clothing anyway, so it's really just a question that has no possible correct answer.
Right now I'm wearing a pair of suit pants that are a size 12, but one of my favourite pairs of jeans are a size six. And I can guarantee I'm not the only one who has a wardrobe filled with an assortment of varying sizes.
But despite the fact the two pairs of pants are near identical in size when placed side-by-side, when I put on the pair that happens to have a larger size embossed on a teeny-tiny label I can't even see when wearing, I somehow feel bad about myself—and just how messed up is that, that we've been condition the believe that the smaller the size imprinted on our clothing, the healthier/sexier/more acceptable our body is deemed.
As one viral TikTok points out, clothes sizes don't exist and companies, quite literally, just make them up, so we should stop finding validation in the label.
By Troy's congratulatory reaction to Jo's new look it's clear he meant no harm or offense, but for women, the question of what size we are has long been a loaded one. The more time we spend putting emphasis on the value of sizes, the longer they'll continue to hold power over us when we close the curtain on that lonesome changing room.
It does just goes to show that we've still got some learning to do when it comes to how we speak, and react, to women's bodies, and it's worth discussing when such topics are thrown around so flippantly on national television.
So this is just your gentle reminder, size does not matter, and we should stop asking those around us what theirs is.
