Wednesday, January 25, 2012

BBW vs Fat



Liris Crosse
    My involvement in my longtime friend, Quinton T. Vaughn's, The Sports Goons group on Facebook is indirectly the inspiration for this topic.  Someone in the group posed the question of whether fat and thick were the same thing; honestly a great question. The term BBW came about as a fashion magazine in the 70s for thicker, more voluptuous  and amazonian women who still proportioned and described women like Laila Ali, Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, J-Lo, Tyra, Janet, Pam Grier (every version of her that can think of) Jennifer Hudson (prior to her second wave of weight loss) Tocarra Jones and Liris Crosse just to name a few.   Of course there are everyday "girl next door" versions of these women who may not pay as close attention to their figure like these women so of course there is a wide range here (no pun intended). But in society today people use the term so loosely to avoid the word fat that it's meaning now supplants the term, which led me to question whether we live a in society so in denial and fearful of facing reality, the scale, and the mirror that change the meaning of words to make ourselves feel better. 





  Now it's not my aim to debate our societal ideals of beauty, so let me start by saying that I've been attracted to all shapes and sizes and have no o specific preference, although I'm not a fan of the skin and bones nor the largest sizes.  I realize that a large majority of women in America fit in a category  that ranges between a size 8-14; 12-14 often considered the "average size" of most women in this country.
 I realize that our societal ideals of beauty makes far too many women critical of their 5'6-5'11 and 150lbs.-180lbs frames, especially when they wear it well.




Conversely, being fat doesnt make you any less of beautiful person. In fact, in some cultures, being bigger and thicker is much more desirable.
 The terms bbw and thick sometimes treads a very thin ambiguous line and in some instances it describes a woman who is "a brownie away from (insert your favorite punchline)".  However, there is a point that just goes beyond attractive and more importantly beyond the limits of unhealthy.

Prior to her noticeable weight loss many people considered Monique fat or moreover obese, which is where the term BBW has evolved into, which again doesnt itself make you not a beautiful question. In fact she so advocated her weight and declared how happy she was with size that she became a spokesperson of sorts for the "Im big, beautiful, and loving it" woman all over America, but ultimately she lost the weight.  And I'm not joking here either, but  it was probably a great decision just for health reasons alone.

  Here is my point, rather than sugar coating our words for political correctness, or hiding behind words that don't accurately describe who we are, perhaps its time to admit what we don't like about ourselves and change it. After all Monique did.

- C.Mitchell, VM

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