Curvilicious Fashionista: Plus Size Reality Show’s

Every year we seem to say, “It’s the year for the plus size woman”, and every year the interest from the media seems stronger.
PLUS Model Magazine has been part of a few reality show’s, set to air within the next 12 month’s including “Big Sexy” premiering on TLC August 30th.
As usual there is always a lot of opinion about reality shows, how they portray us as plus size women and whether they are good for younger audiences that are currently dealing with body image issues. After countless emails, I invited four industry professionals to chat about reality show’s, the positive, the negative and everything in between. What do you think? Would you join the cast of a reality show? What would your boundaries be, or would you do anything for fame?
(below is a summary of what each attendee had to say)

Attendee No. 1 – Skinny people do it, why can’t we?
- We are too community oriented and too “fat girl” next door. If we want to be seen as equals then we have to show ourselves as equals. Take Toccara’s new “looking for love” reality show! She is sexy, she is looking for love and will be doing it publicly just like many other women have. Why are we so hard on plus size women when they do anything outside the norm?

Attendee No. 2 – The media is trying to make a mockery of us!
- I have personally heard of a show that was cast based on how “bad girls” the cast could be. We are going to have a big girl version of “bad girls”, how do you think that will make us look? I think those type of shows make us all look bad regardless of size; it’s degrading. I also hate that plus size women are always trying to lose weight on show’s like the Biggest Loser and then expect the plus size industry to embrace them and find a place for them.
Attendee No. 3 – Plus size life is just as interesting as any other show on Discovery or Bravo, this is how plus size reality stars are born!
A show like Big Sexy is very much needed, the premise seems real and the women are real women that the audience could relate to. We have ton’s of reality shows and not many that include a plus size cast who are not looking to lose weight. I say support the shows that are positive and do not degrade people. Why not?
Attendee No. 4 – We are playing with fire!
What I mean is this, production companies and networks will say anything to get a show on the air. You may go in thinking the show will be one way and walk out with an edited version that is nothing to be proud of. Unless you have an actual say about how you will be portrayed, and what you will be party to during the taping, the cast is playing with fire and you may walk away with less than a stellar reputation.
As you can imagine these are all very strong opinions which I openly validate because we all have a right to our own feelings. What is your take on plus size reality show’s?