After moving to Los Angeles from Australia, Kelly Glover began documenting her experiences as a plus size woman in the L.A. dating scene through her blog, Big Curvy Love. In addition to sharing her own stories, she offers readers advice on relationships, style and more. We caught up with Kelly to talk about dating as a plus size woman, making the move from Australia to L.A., and her new Fifty Fat Dates feature.
How long have you lived in L.A.?
Since July 2013. I left my syndicated Love Song Dedications radio show in Australia, sold everything and moved to Los Angeles. I went to college in Ohio and interned in LA previously so I’ve lived in the USA before and loved it.
How did Big Curvy Love come to be?
I made the conscious decision to change my mindset and become body positive in 2012. After an amazing holiday in Los Angeles, New York & Las Vegas I returned to Australia with a lot of fun stories, I was already blogging and a friend suggested to write about it from a plus size perspective. Within a week Big Curvy Love was up-and-running!
What is the dating scene in L.A. like compared to Australia? Do you find dating easier or more difficult here?
Since Australia doesn’t have an inbuilt ‘dating culture,’ dating in the US is much easier. If you walked up to an Aussie chick out of the blue and asked her out she’d think you were a complete weirdo (and probably tell you so).
Most Australians get into relationships with people they already know socially and dating multiple people simultaneously isn’t done. However, online dating has made things much easier especially for plus size women.
Even though the US has better opportunities for singles the Los Angeles dating scene is a beast unto itself. I’ll admit I personally haven’t had much luck here so far.
Running a site that covers plus size dating, & relationships, you’re probably asked for advice quite a bit. What sort of questions do you get from your readers on a regular basis?
Sure, I get questions from males and females about all kinds of things, especially about what the best dating sites are, and tips in general for plus sizes dating. I also look at search terms people plug into Google that lead them to Big Curvy Love. Some include: Do guys really like fat girls? How do I tell him I’m curvy? Is liking big women a fat fetish? Would you date a curvy girl? I’m fat will I ever get a boyfriend?
Do you have any dating tips or advice for guys who are out there looking to make their own plus sized love connection?
This advice is for anyone dating online: show an accurate full body current photo of yourself. Doing this will give you more confidence because you’ll know that anyone contacting you is legitimately attracted to you as you are right now.
However, if what you are doing right now isn’t working then you need to change it. If you want to meet the love of your life then you have to be prepared to get out and meet people. Sure, it seems obvious but I’ve spent many nights watching TV complaining I didn’t have a date. Duh! One of my posts is called ‘How to Date a Big Girl,’ which has great tips on dating plus size women, including pointing out some mistakes you might be inadvertently making.
What’s next for you and Big Curvy Love?
Speaking of dating, I’m launching a new blog feature called ‘Fifty Fat Dates’ today, on Valentine’s Day. On a quest to find love and talk about plus size dating, I’ll be going on fifty dates over the next year and sharing my experiences.
Learn more about Kelly and Big Curvy love at BigCurvyLove.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
