LOS ANGELES — CNBC has released a video featuring prominent plus-size porn performer Kelly Shibari discussing how the adult industry has come to increasingly embrace the plus-size market.
Describing the number of companies that have released plus-size lingerie lines in just the last year as “staggering,” Shibari notes there are still some disadvantages to being a “niche performer.”
Asserting that plus-size stars make about half the money that mainstream performers make, “Shibari adds, “As a niche performer, I don’t have the backing of a studio. I’m not a contract star. I don’t have an agent. Most of us don’t have publicists. So when we do have fans that go out of their way to purchase a DVD, it’s so awesome… We personally go to the post office and ship it to you. We don’t have an assistant that does it for us.”
Shibari, in conjunction with Wicked Pictures contract star Jessica Drake, explained the significance of their recent collaborative sex-ed release, “jessica drake’s Guide to Wicked Sex: Plus Size.”
“We wanted to show plus-size couples being intimate and say, ‘Look, you can awesome sex’,” Shibari says. The title took home the 2015 XBIZ Award for Specialty Release of the Year.
“The consumer base [for plus-size videos and products] in the U.S. is huge, literally and figuratively,” she says. “Having companies recognize that and create products for that market, instead of just ignoring them, is a big affirmation that they acknowledge that there’s money there.”
