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How Would You React?

The show What Would You Do hosted by John Quiñones and created by Chris Whipple, uses hidden cameras to observe how people react when confronted with difficult situations.  They will bring in relevant people in today's society to play as actors and carry out these situations. These are scenes where a bystander has the choice to intervene or mind their own business. This show may have been created for a curious audience who may have an idea of what they might do in all of the different situations this show exhibits. The purpose of the show is an attempt to make your mind wander about the actions this actor took or perhaps missed out on. It has the  possibility to change your perspective on how you choose to react to things that may happen in your own life as a watcher. One of the actors who is featured on the show is Ashley Graham, an American plus size model who has appeared on the covers of various fashion/beauty magazines and walked the runway for important fashion designers. She devotes much of her time being an ambassador for women of all shapes and sizes. Including a swimsuit line designed, Swimsuits for All, she was also the first curvy woman to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2016. Becoming an author in 2017 for her memoir,  A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like, she has made a huge effort to advocate for people of all sizes. She was featured on What Would You Do, in an episode aired on June 23, 2017; Graham acts as the girlfriend to a slim young male, whose parents, that are also very fit, are meeting her for the first time at a restaurant. When the parents first are introduced to her, they act very surprised with wide eyes and high pitched voices, the mother says, “Wow, we were just expecting someone just a little different than you”. Two women sitting in the booth next to them notice the situation and can’t help but listen in. When their son asks what she meant by that statement the mother replies with, “You’re a big girl aren’t you?” One of the woman in the next booth takes her glasses off with her eyes widened and mouth open in shock by what they just heard. While the other woman put her hands on her temples in annoyance. Graham begins to look away from the table when her boyfriend says, “I’m happy and that’s all that matters”. The women in the booth start texting each other about the situation, when the mother finally says, “I can’t get over it, I can’t accept it,” and begins to stand up. As she is about to leave the restaurant, the mother says, “You’re huge, you’re way too big for my son,” when the women in the booth next to them look at her, wide eyed in shock, and say, “Wow”. They turn to Graham when one of them says, “I’m sorry they did that to you. It was mean”. The other woman explains, “It’s really about the two of you, you’re a beautiful looking girl and you have to look past a lot of things.” When Graham gets up to sit next to the women, they give her a hug to help comfort her, they say, ‘“You’re such a beautiful looking girl, I would never do that to my kid… they didn’t even give you a chance”’. The host John Quiñones comes out to talk to them and begins by asking the women if they wanted to speak up. The women respond with, “Not at all, were jersey girls, we were sitting here texting each other going can you believe this conversation?”. He also asks why they gave her a hug and answer with, “I did because she was crying I felt so bad for her”. The women ask Graham how she was able to cry while she was acting, she responds saying, “I cried because this is a situation I’ve been in before and it’s never okay, we need more women like you guys, that stand up for all kinds of women in every kind of situation”. This statement confirms what the episode what was attempting to convey to its audience. Before the episode begins, host John Quiñones asks Graham, “Why did you want to take part in What Would You Do?”. Graham replies, “It’s not okay to look at somebody and think that they’re ugly or unhealthy because of a little bit of extra weight on their body”.

Later after the episode John Quiñones interviews Graham about her experience being apart of What Would You Do. He asks her, “What did you think of today?,” Graham says, “I teared up a lot because I knew that they were actors, but I know that people have said things like that about me behind my back, and I know there’s many women that have had that same thing happen to them, and I just started really feeling for all the women out there, it’s hard to watch”. Her message to young girls watching the show is, “ To always stand up for who you are, to never let anybody tell you who you should be or who you should conform to be, and to love yourself.”

In another interview, that Ashley Graham reflects on her appearance on What Would You Do, Graham tells MSN’s, The Talk’s, ‘“ This whole experience was so amazing for me because this did happen to me in real life… So for me this whole experience was real, and those tears were real”’. To recognize the fact Graham has gone through experiences like this before and has become accustomed to a life where she is looked at differently amongst a number of people. Also mentioned during the interview with Graham, she also brings up the question, ‘“How are we educating parents and talking to the children about how were raising them, about body diversity and body shaming…”’. This is an example of how the situation portrayed in this episode, has the ability to shift a viewer’s perspective, making them re-imagine what they consider normal. This question is largely observed after watching this show because it brings light to the issue that parents may not be doing enough to show their kids that we should accept all body types and no matter what they look like. What can also be taken away from this situation is how anyone as a bystander can make a difference when we witness people being treated unfairly. The women in the restaurant who comfort Graham played a major role throughout the scene because they are making a difference. They allowed her to sit with them and go out of there way to show her that not all people are like those parents. Viewers who may relate to this scenario, could consider these two women a symbol for someone who has impacted their life personally. Therefore, the show moves beyond reality TV and takes on social issues relevant in today’s world.

The topic of plus size women who are body shamed is very relevant to our society because it is becoming more accepting to have plus size models that we may see on magazines, commercials, or even on TV like we are seeing with Ashley Graham. The lingerie chain retailer Aerie has made their campaign all about “real” woman. They are doing their part to support women for their true bodies without being retouched. #AerieREAL has become a large trend for body positivity and to support all sizes of woman/models and not just the ones who have a slim waist and smooth skin. Aerie shows their diversity by showing off all of their models, many of which are not like the models you would normally see walk the runway. This campaign has much to do with this episode of What Would You Do because after the parents make their opinion of her apparent to everyone in the restaurant around them, the surrounding individuals like the two women sitting next to Graham, comfort her and make her realize not everyone is like his parents and they should be more accepting because she is just the same as anyone else. During the episode that is being focused on, the parents ask their ‘son’, “What do you guys have in common?”. The purpose of what Aerie is doing is to answer that question and show their customers that they are no different than any other person.

What is important to take away is the idea of how the lives of people we surround ourselves with, may differ from our own, and to be mindful of how other people are brought up and how their day is spent differently. And it is important to be informed on how the world changes around us on a daily basis and it is significant to accept everyone's differences, because no matter how much we can differ from one person to another, all people have same value and it is important to treat people that way.