Katya Zharkova in Controversial Spread for PLUS Model Magazine

Plus-sized model Katya Zharkova appears in a shoot for PLUS Model Magazine that is creating quite a stir. Katya Zharkova is sans clothing in this 8-page spread next to an also-nude anonymous “straight model.”

On each of the editorial’s pages are statistics regarding modeling and weight over the last decade. For example, one says, “Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today she weighs 23% less.”

The photos with Katya Zharkova are shocking, not just because of the statistics that go along with them but also because she poses next to (and holds and lies onto) a model that is obviously supposed to represent the “wrong” weight.

The magazine, in response to some of the backlash it has received, stated, “We are bombarded with weight-loss ads every single day, multiple times a day because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the fear of being fat. Not everyone is meant to be skinny, our bodies are beautiful and we are not talking about health here because not every skinny person is healthy.”