Oprah is looking for Chicago fatties!

Are you plus size and proud?

Are you plus size and proud? Chicago only! Are you a woman comfortable with and proud of your plus size physique? Are you not afraid to show it off? Have you accepted and love your larger body type? If you live in the Chicago area, we would love to hear from you. The Oprah Winfrey Show is looking for larger women in the Chicago area who are proud of their plus size bodies and might be willing to model for us. Please only respond if you are willing to be on television.

It's always been a little dream of mine to meet Oprah. I've seriously spent time trying to think of ways to get on the show. I'm considering filling out the application for this but I'm such a fangirl that I'd probably faint or throw up or do something else horrible... on TV... in front of Oprah. Eek.

Update: Two minutes after posting this, I decided to fill out the app. I get all starry eyed over Oprah so I couldn't help myself. I know a few other ladies in Chicago who might want to fill out that app, too! ;)

Comments

[Confused]

Is this a joke? Are you talking about the "Oprah" who thinks all fat people are overeaters with emotional problems? The one who's backing Obama for prez (aka. one of the primary inventors of the "obesity crisis" hate & exploitation fest)?

PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING. OPRAH IS *NOT* OUR FRIEND.

[Carrie]

I say that if you're a fan, go for it! Hopefully they'll use REAL people, instead of people sized 10-12 for plus-sized modeling. :) Keep us posted...

[Rachel]

Look, Oprah may not be a big supporter of fat people, but the show sounds like it will be presented in a fat-positive light with an emphasis on positive body image. I sincerely doubt they will have fat women model mumus and burlap sacks. I say go for it. You're totally fashionable anyway, and you have fabulous hair. It will be good for Oprah's denizens to see a confident fat woman like Colleen.

[ottermatic]

Colleen, if you need a letter of recommendation, I will write you one! Not that Oprah listens to me or anything, but you know.

[Colleen (Pretty Pear)]

I never said Oprah was "our friend." I said that I personally have always wanted to meet her. I admire her as a person and as a business woman.

Not every single thing I do in my life has to come down to who is or who is not a friend to the Fat Acceptance movement because not everyone has even had a chance to learn ABOUT the Fat Acceptance movement. I bet Oprah would be open to HAES if she took the time to learn about it.

I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and approaching things with an open mind. So if the producers of Oprah's show want to do a piece on happy, confident plus size women, then I think we can at least watch it with an open mind and not assume the very worst. Plus size women have been all over the media in the past year, so my guess is that they want a piece of that.

Oprah is not evil just because she has her own weight issues that lead HER to believe that everyone ELSE is an emotional eater just like she is. She's human and she's allowed to be wrong. That doesn't make her any less brilliant and inspirational in other areas of her life.

Plus, I'm not dumb enough to do a show if I felt like they were going to be exploitive in any way. IF the producers contact me (big IF there) and IF I feel that it's headed down that path, then I wouldn't do it. I didn't fill out the app thinking they'd send a car to my house tomorrow morning to do the show. There'd have to be discussion about what would be involved.

Trust me, I'm not stupid.

[Corinna]

Go for it Colleen. I wish I lived in Chicago so I could apply as well.

Represent sistah fashionista! I'm rooting for you.

[RoseCampion]

I live in Chicago, but there's no way I'd apply to be on her show. No, not because she's evil, but because I've just seen too much of her show. I think there's a lot of emotional exploitation that goes on during that show, cheapening people's real and genuine pain by turning it into entertainment for others. It's not just about the fat people she does that to, but so many other people and their problems. That said, she definitely is not a friend to the fat girls. But its a case of Oprah not generally sitting well with me, regardless of the topic.

[AnnieMcPhee]

I would take that bet, actually. Oprah was the poster child for yoyo dieting, starvation diets - anything to get rid of her fat once and for all. Which, really, considering how much the media was always mocking on her, calling her Orca and caricaturizing her, I guess is quite understandable. She never learned to accept herself as she was. She might be persuaded to embrace FA and HAES for a time, but that's just one of a bazillion things she's believed in over the years. She's always been rather easily led that way - and that's not a put-down, as it's a very human trait. At the same time, I do agree she's not "our friend" and believes that fat is a symptom of trauma and psyche problems, but any opportunity to get the message out is good. I can't wait to see the disclaimers they're going to put on this one. They'll have to get the message in there somewhere about it being unhealthy...and yet, it also feels like FA is really on the verge of a major breakthrough. Fingers crossed!

[Kate Harding]

Thanks for posting this, Colleen! I just applied, too.

The fact is, despite all the good reasons why Oprah can't be considered a fat acceptance ally, she obviously has empathy for fat women, so the show certainly isn't likely to be about humiliating confident fat women (unlike some others I could think of). And I can't think of any demographic that could benefit more from the FA message and images of confident plus-size women than her audience.

[Unbelievable]

"I bet Oprah would be open to HAES if she took the time to learn about it."

Oprah, Co. has been hearing about fat acceptance in all forms for DECADES. She's already done shows on "proud fat women" (sandwiched between the diet shows and the pro-surgery shows, etc. etc.) SHE HAS NO MORALS. NO MESSAGE STICKS WITH HER. Look at her behavior at the start of the Iraq war (one minute pro, one minute anti -- all based upon polls and politics). She & her marketing crew make decisions based solely upon what will help her self Herself as a Brand. In short, she's a sad, pathetic WHORE. Her "obvious empathy" lasts about 48 minutes before being swapped for more anti-woman, anti-fat hate ideas.

Your naivete is unbelievable. If you want to help Oprah tell lies and make more money, go ahead. I've got better things to do that to help a whore make more money.

[joan]

I love Oprah. I think she is an amazing woman, yeah, she has issues, some I don't agree with, but who cares, EVERYBODY has issues. I hope you get accepted to do her show.

[AnnieMcPhee]

Except one of her issues is fat-phobia. She was actually a lot more open to fat acceptance when she was fat. Problem is, she was "stuffing herself" because of emotional problems, and might not be naturally fat. So now because she lost weight, everyone can and should do the same. There's nothing fat acceptance about her life goal of taking and keeping off the fat at any cost, and preaching that message to the world. It may be just "an issue" like everyone has issues, but it's an issue that is very detrimental to fat acceptance and HAES. So let's not sugarcoat it, eh?

At any rate, it says they want people to model, not to go on the show and discuss FA or anything. I'm not sure where they're going with this. But then I've watched maybe three episodes of Oprah in the past 15 years when it stopped being interesting. To me. And when she started buying into every hokey new age theory that came down the pike.

I do wish you much luck for getting the FA message out if at all possible through this medium. Her audience probably IS perfect for hearing the message, and probably needs it most.

[Meowser]

Whether Oprah is a fatphobe or not, being able to tell people you were on her show (even if she mocks sticking her finger down her throat the whole time) is a great way to get fence-sitters to listen to people like Kate and Colleen. Now, how fatphobic is she? Lemme put it this way. I think if Anna Wintour announced tomorrow that Vogue would only be featuring models sizes 16 plus from now on, Oprah would be all over fat acceptance in half a Chicago nanosecond.

[AnnieMcPhee]

Oh sure, she'll go where the money is :) And I DO really think FA is on the verge of something big - at least it sort of feels like it. (Hopefully I'm right - I have a knack with trends.) Nor do I think Oprah would mock sticking her finger down her throat - at least, I doubt it - does she do that to fat people? I wouldn't think that of her. The only time I saw her get nasty with a guest was a woman who had been severely beaten and verbally abused by her husband while their child videotaped it. She had some crocodile tears but she was seething because the woman "took it" and it showed, badly.

Anyway, I do hope you know I wasn't kudoing the person above who was all about saying what a "whore" she is; whether or not that's true it's not helpful and not nice. Also, I'm all for the message getting out no matter how it does. And no way do I intend to discourage the Pretty Pear from giving it a go - I hope she does it in spades! Like you say, it will be great not only for fence-sitters but also for people who are fat-haters (both fat ones desperate to lose weight and thin ones who look on and jeer.) I want them to hear it all! If I could put some of the entries from fat fu or Shapely Prose or this blog or Junkfood science on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow, I'd do it and demand more :)

Pretty Pear I hope I didn't come across as too negative. I just don't like to sugarcoat things too much, and I was watching Oprah both before and after all kinds of yoyo dieting, and yoyo philosophy about fat (one day obsessed with diets, another with accepting fat people and not bashing them) and watched as she unveiled her emaciated body after the Optifast, etc. (And as she began to pack it on directly afterwards without saying a word. That still makes me sad.) If you can get on there and hopefully get some messages out, more power to you, seriously. It needs to be heard. Forgive me if I sounded discouraging because that wasn't the intent :(

[Lalie]

I think that it is a great idea. Whether or not Oprah is friend or foe she has a large audience that is fat friendly and would really like to see large and confident women portrayed in a fashionable light.
You're a beautiful woman Colleen so I say go for it with gusto!

[lee]

Good luck!

[kit]

Oprah is anything but "thin." Do you need to be 300 lbs nowadays to be considered "overweight?" Did I miss some memo?