‘Body Shaming’: Plus Size Models Speak Out - East Idaho News

‘Body Shaming’: Plus Size Models Speak Out

  Published at

Getty 101112 PlusSizedModel?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1349975217478File photo. iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Critics proclaimed Ashley Judd’s face too chubby, Jessica Simpson’s baby body too big and LeAnn Rimes too thin.

But now, Plus Model magazine’s “Love Your Body” issue wants to put an end to what it calls the “body shaming” with portraits of naked women proudly showing off their curves.

“I wanted to create that conversation, and I wanted people to say, hey, maybe I need to stop writing those negative things,” Plus Model magazine editor-in-chief Madeline Jones told ABC News.

The spread, intended to represent all those who have been shamed or bullied for their size, shows models wearing little more than high heels and jewelry. But each photo comes with the message that no one is safe from body shaming, and that body shaming hurts everyone.

“To the extent women look at this and it expands their understanding of what is beautiful, then that I think it is a great thing,” body image expert Sarah Maria said.

Model Laura Johnson believes body shaming is on the rise for women, both large and small.

“I’ve been used to people telling me what they think about my body. I love myself, and I want other women to experience that same joy,” Johnson said.

Body shaming made headlines earlier this month when a viewer emailed Lacrosse, Wis., television news anchor Jennifer Livingston, complaining that she was too fat and setting a bad example.

Supporters, including ABC affiliate WXOW, rallied around Livingston after she publicly addressed the man who sent the email, Kenneth Krause, a personal injury attorney.

“You don’t know me. You aren’t my friend,” Livingston said on her broadcast.

And now, Plus Model magazine says it wants to rally around all women.

“I want everyone everywhere to see this magazine, and know it’s part of change … people seeing our bodies as wonderful things,” model Ivory Kalber, who has proclaimed herself happy to be a size 12 or 14, told ABC News.

Wonderful, curvy things, that is.

 

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION