Jumbo

It's that time of year – when the Miss Jumbo contest is held in Thailand – an event that typically gets filed by news services in the "Isn't It A Big Ol' Wacky Planet?" category of human interest stories – and has shown up in at least one of comedian Lewis Black's rant/monologues about how fucked up the world is. Affiliated with the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo, the event provides a curious admixture of ridicule and celebration not unlike that which you used to see in circus side-shows. The event, after all, is aligned with fund-raising to protect Thailand's dwindling elephant population: a noble environmental cause, though the connection between pachyderm and Big Beautiful Woman is not one that goes down easy for many fat Americans, I wager.

Still, for those of us attracted to plus-sized partners, the contestants at this event are unquestionably attractive. I tend to favor Miss Jumbo Universe, the 400-pound beauty who won her title for being the largest of the contestants – it's not just her size, but the effervescently confident way she carries it on-stage (the Reuters link above has a film clip of the contest which is worth waiting through a glacially slow dial-up download to view) that makes her so attractive – but main contest winner Tarnrarin Chansawang is a real cutey, too. As a fat admirer, I often find myself checking out pretty fringe entertainments just to get a glimpse of an attractive BBW. Perhaps it's the air of foreign-ness, but there's an innocent appreciation surrounding the "Miss Jumbo" Contest that I sure find attractive. . .