Tyra Banks, Beauty or Beast??

Who remembers way back when, when Tyra was criticized for appearing "over-weight" in some papparazzi pics?? Well, there's the pic and whether what was said offended her or not, it for lack of a better phrase inspired her to focus on body image and self-esteem among young women by using her popular show America's Next Top Model. After appearing on CNN where she advised young women to tune into cycle 8 of this show, it was hoped that by selecting "plus sized" girls for the 13 week contest young girls would feel better about their bodies and themselves, as well as gain a better understanding of what beauty is.

That was until the series began and we were introduced to just 2 plus sized girls. These two young girls were identified right off the bat as being the chosen fat ones of the bunch. They were also reminded repeatedly about how alot is expected of them as plus sized models. The concept of having plus sized contestants left ANTM hopefulls discussing who would be the plus sized models and having them wonder how many chubbies would be chosen. This overblown attention to the plus sized concept began the demise of Tyra's pursuit of bettering the lives of teenage girls.

The downfall continued when it was time for these two to leave the competition. Quite soon i might add. Before the series was half done, these two plus sized models were gone. On a side note, I just want to address this label "plus sized". I always thought plus size was over 14. These girls were definately not there. In fact they were your typical averaged sized curvy girls. My guess is that they were between a 9 and 12. Labelling them as Plus Sized once again was not avocating for anti-stereotypes.

So the message Tyra was what??? I'm thinking if girls were getting mixed signals before, they definately know now that chubbies can't compete with skin and bones in the fashion world (which we know gets translated to real life).

ESPECIALLY, when America's Next Top Model #8 is Jaslene, the SKINNIEST competitor of this entire series to date.

WOW Tyra, way to go, way to make young women feel good about themselves. It was also nice to hear the judges thoughts on positive attitudes and then pass up the one they identified as always having a smile on her face and who learns from the judges criticisms.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Jaslene, I'm glad she won. Renee has a bad attitude and Natasha is a full of herself wannabe playboy pornstar.

For next time Tyra, don't use a modelling competition to advocate for health, body image, and self-esteem, cause everytime you sent one home, fat or not you said to the world they weren't pretty enough.