More than a hand-full

Well, life is all about transition. And having said that, this next bit is a transition to a greater or lesser extent from that last pic I posted (the one with the hot Kurdish babe voting). I’ll explain:

This past week, I was sitting around with the kids trying to choose what Halloween costumes they were going to wear this year. So I had received a circular in the mail from a retail establishment known as Party City. During the fall season, they have a vast selection of Halloween costumes available for the whole family, as it were. So we were going through the circular, and I happened upon a costume called “Lots of Luv”, or something like that. This costume is actually designed for men, particularly portly men. And it consists of a velvet blue cocktail dress, and a stuffing that will give the appearance of a woman who has a large belly, ample buttocks, and very large breasts. It also comes with a blond wig. Sounds nice huh. Very funny. Well, I didn’t think so.

See, here’s the thing. Anyone who knows me and knows me well also knows that I have certain tastes and proclivities with respect to the fairer sex (girls, that is). Mainly, I enjoy “natural” women. You know, rubenesque, zaftig chicks . . . big girls – BBW’s, as guys like me call ‘em. Some would even say that I’m a “chubby chaser” (I consider that to be a derogatory term, and I recently found out that apparently this term has been adopted by the gay community for some reason, so I’m happy to say it no longer applies to me and my straight brethren). But my tastes are more than sexual, and have even extended to the socio-political realm. I’ve been into BBW’s for years, probably since I was a kid. And I’ve been involved in the BBW community to some degree or other since the mid 90’s and have been known to speak out on behalf of the rights and fair treatment of big gals, as it were. And to that end (no pun intended), that’s why I’m penning this piece.

You see, Party City, and similar retailers, not only offer the outfit I previously described, but a fair amount of similar ones, which are meant to make fun of fat chicks. For example, there’s the “Wanna Nookie”, the “Bodacious Biker Babe”, the “Tacky Tourist”, and the “Moon Over Hawaii”, just to name a few. Amazing.

Now, it seems to me that this sort of parody is just plain insensitive and mean. I mean, it’s become politically incorrect to castigate and make fun of various racial groups and ethnic groups, particularly when it comes to retail marketing. But it seems to me that one of the last bastions of social bigotry exists with regard to not just fat people, but plus-sized women in particular. Generally, it’s become acceptable for men in our country (which boasts the highest percentage of obesity on the planet too) to be overweight. They still take shit for being fat, but not so much. We guys display our lovingly cultivated beer guts with much pride. But when it comes to women, we still have a tendency to not only make fun of plus-sized women, but make great strides in many areas of American society to make women in this demographic literally feel unacceptable. It’s to the point where women even trash each other for their body types and shapes. And from my observations, women can actually be crueler than men when it comes to this sort of thing. Sad.

Although the average dress size for women in America is between a 16 and an 18, and along with that, the average cup size is a healthy D (which to me looks great on big girls and downright bizarre on skinny chicks), why is it that plus-sized fashion is an exception and not a rule? Why is it that good, current plus-sized fashions are not only comparatively rare, but significantly more expensive than the unreasonable small sizes (like sizes 2 to 8) that are widely available? That makes no sense. But I digress. With these issues on the table, why add insult to injury by making costumes like the ones I mentioned available that are meant to exclusively make fun of big girls? That sucks.

You know, just as a point of information, there is a growing plus-size modeling industry that exists. And that’s pretty fucking cool in my book. And it makes sense. It’s about time that the major modeling agencies like Ford Modeling Agency finally recognize that the overwhelming majority of women in American, who fit the plus-sized demographic, need to have current fashions and products targeted toward them and made available to them. And though it’s happening slowly, mainstream marketing is recognizing this reality. If you look, you’ll notice this here and there in TV marketing and advertising, and so forth. And there are even a fair number of women in the modeling industry who have been given the illustrious title of Plus Sized Super Models. Check this out (if you can stand it):

http://www.judgmentofparis.com/

Among the stable of prominent plus-sized women in the fashion industry and media are celebrities such as plus-sized Super Model Mia Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler, model and actress Christina Schmidt of Canada, musician and actress Dana Owens, a.k.a. Queen Latifah, plus-sized super model Barbara Brickner, Disney studios staple Raven Symone, and of course, plus-size modeling pioneer and Lane Bryant spokes-model Emme.

You know what I find irritating? Despite these women’s accomplishments and incredibly alluring and classic beauty, I’ll bet you any amount of money they still get dumped on for being “fat”. And of course, even fat chicks think guys like me who dig ‘em to no end, are all around freaks of nature. That always amazes me. I’m sure a fellow “FA” (that’s our secret little politically correct term for “Fat Admirer” – a guy who loves big girls) D. Trull would agree with me. Check him out.

http://www.lardbiscuit.com/

Anyway, lay off the fat chicks, folks, would ya? You’d be surprised at who you might be trashing.