I still remembered the reply that I got from an attractive plus-sized lady when I was inviting her to give some feedback on plus-size dating app, WooPlus. “The phrase BBW irritates me.” That was her original words. To be honest, I was completely lost with this reply, wondering BBW is a word to express our admiration for big beautiful women, isn’t it? Why would she feel irritated with a compliment? Did I miss something? Then, I googled with the term “BBW”. Ok, now I knew why this lady would feel irritated with the phrase BBW. A term coined by “a fashion and lifestyle magazine for ‘plus-size’ women” is now “frequently used in the context of fat fetishism, even a porn category.” I do not know how this change has taken place and I have no interest to know it either. The only thing that I care about is that we may lose a word to express our sincere & pure appreciation for plus-size beauties.
So later I joined two online BBW chatting forums, Dimensions Magazine and Ample Beauties. I talked with members there. And gladly, many members there love big women as who they are, instead of a fetish. This gives me hope and confidence to ask for a positive light on the term BBW. Courtney Mina once posted an article on bustle, with the title “Why I’m OK With The Term BBW As A Description For My Plus Size Body”. In this article, Courtney shares her own true stories about how the term BBW has brought self love, confidence and passion to her. And if you have any chance to talk to some big, beautiful women, you will find that many of them have similar experiences. People will change their beauty standards when they met someone that they care about. And people will change beauty standards when they learn to love themselves. Thus, to some degree, the term BBW can also offer some help to validate people’s understanding of beauty and confirms big woman’s self love as well.
Just as Marie mentioned in her article “7 Things You Do Not Know About The Term BBW” that “But it’s really an image of an empowered fat person daring to question social norms — daring to express difference in a world that doesn’t often celebrate it.” So, the term BBW may seem to be a common adjective to you, but for some, it is an image where “fat body” will be fully accepted. And I bet lots of people are working on the image in their own way. Thus, for their courage to challenge to conservative beauty standards and their willingness to fulfill the image, please give some positive light on the term BBW.
Please feel free to share your beautiful love stories to support@wooplus.com, in which term BBW has involved as a “bridge”. Your stories will be the biggest support for those who are struggling with body acceptance and those who are fighting for body positivity. Thanks in advance.
See Also:
Proof to Help Ashley Winner of Season 14 of Project Runway Shut Down Online Plus-Size Attacks
