"The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job"
About this Quote
The intent feels less like confession than indictment. Otis is describing an economic logic that turns a body into a measurement and a career into a countdown. "That dress size" is doing heavy cultural work: it reduces talent, charisma, and professionalism to a numeric gate. The subtext is that the marketplace doesnt reward health or individuality; it rewards compliance, and compliance is policed by scarcity. The repetition of "someone else would" mimics a mantra you tell yourself to justify self-erasure: this is just how it is, dont be difficult, dont take up space.
Context matters because Otis came up in an era when heroin-chic aesthetics and ruthless casting hierarchies amplified the sense that thinness wasnt a look, it was job security. Her quote captures the way beauty industries outsource coercion to competition. No one has to explicitly order you to disappear; the system whispers that you are always one size away from being replaced.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
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| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Otis, Carre. (2026, January 17). The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pressure-was-if-i-didnt-get-into-that-dress-49775/
Chicago Style
Otis, Carre. "The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pressure-was-if-i-didnt-get-into-that-dress-49775/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-pressure-was-if-i-didnt-get-into-that-dress-49775/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.



