Two Little Terms

Two terms that are gonna show up frequently on this blog are fat admirer (or FA) and BBW. The second set of letters stands for Big Beautiful Woman and was first coined by editor Carole Shaw for her plus-sized fashion mag of the same name. Though the magazine has had a rocky publication history (it's currently on its second hiatus, though its site is still up), the phrase has endured in the size acceptance community as the politic way to describe fat ladies. Occasionally, some smartass will make the inevitable point: "Are you saying that all fat women are automatically beautiful?" Shaw, who'd first come up with the term to sell a fashion mag (with its possibility of personal transformation) would've probably said yes – or at least that every fat woman had the potential to be beautiful. To many in the size acceptance community, the term is also meant as a corrective to mainstream western culture's use of fatandugly as a single word.

As a male FA, I'm also thankful for the way that "BBW" gives me the chance to be complimentary without being second-guessed. After years of being told how unattractive they are, many fat women are understandably dubious when receiving compliments. Having an established phrase makes it a little bit easier to both send and accept one.

"FA" was (I think) first established by Bill Fabrey, one of the founders of the size acceptance civil rights group NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance). When Fabrey was first looking around for a way to describe his own personal preferences, the only comparable term, "chubby chaser," was within the gay community. Whether Bill felt the phrase too limiting (many FAs, after all, are attracted to women who go beyond "chubby") – or he wanted to avoid the association with gay culture (in its early years, NAAFA stayed strictly hetero, though the organization has since opened up its membership) – Fabrey invented a term that was also consistent with NAAFA's desire to de-stigmatize the word "fat." There are those who feel the word "admirer" is a tad off-the-mark (you might get somewhere telling a loved one that you "admire" them, but you ain't gonna get too far!), but, to date, no one's come up with an acceptable substitute. Personally, I think chubby chaser has a nice ring to it, but I grew up reading Marvel Comics – and I love alliteration. . .