I ran across these.......thought they were sweet....but the name of the ad campaign caused me to post them here

http://adsoftheworld.com/files/image...nt.preview.jpg
http://bp0.blogger.com/_KYXmcfChca4/...rey+Israel.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat...-campaign.html

it happened again. And older woman came into my store and after she had touched (and I mean that..touched, not gone through) three racks, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said "I am so glad you are here"

this astounds me every time.

It also astounds me when I ask women what size they are, so i can help them look, sometimes their faces change, like I just insulted them. I asked them for a number. Not if they had masturbated that morning. But I might as well have! Fear, anger, shame, fierce self protectiveness from cruelty....man it all races across their face. I have learned to hold their eyes and smile...softly...not too much because then it becomes obscene. A soft smile with soft eyes, as tho to say "ease up missus, I mean you no harm"

and sure enough, they ease up. They realize they are safe to say that number out loud. No one is going to laugh. Or taunt. Or sneer. Nor shame.

I watch as people pass by my window display where it is written what sizes we carry. Women sometimes stop in, but sometimes, I see the look change from curious, to that innate sense of fight or flight and they run...women who are obviously plus size. These women, I figure, are so out of body, they cannot even conceive of being seen reading a plus size store window....I could be misreading them but I have seen this occur several times. They turn tail and run away...

I had a dog and her owner come into the store today. Her missus didnt want to come in but I beckoned her. I need to keep a treat bowl for pups in the store!

Some children came in with mom, and they were SO EXCITED I had a play area. And were so good..they picked up after themselves. Mom was SO EXCITED she could shop without kids whining they were bored. I did good!

I had a steady flow of customers all day. My biggest fear was I would create this shop and no one would come. And the people coming, are coming in from very little advertising. Just wait until I get more marketing out there!

Life...is good.

I am a lurker in this thread. I'm not considered fat, but like many women I just have body image issues. And this thread for me is more than just embracing the fact that you are fat and that there is nothing wrong with it. To me it inspires me to accept and embrace my own body, with it's many "flaws" whatever they may be. So thank you to all of you confident BBW.

Miss Tia, best of luck to you and your store. Sounds like you are enjoying yourself and the community is happy to have you.

Thanks, Beloved! You and anyone, whether thin or fat or whatever size, are very welcome here to lurk or post! I just wanted to carve out a little space where someone could go to get some body positive energy and support :)

One of my favorite artists is Jan Saudek. I love his unapologetic embrace of women's "flaws." Not sure if this image will work but:

http://www.saudek.com/photos/93-01.jpg

In the same way that a scar can be seen as sexy, so too can a roll of fat or a body that has unusual proportions.

http://www.starling-fitness.com/wp-c...dBeautiful.jpg

http://www.starling-fitness.com/arch...and-beautiful/

Okay the guy who writes this is just weird and supportive in that back handed arched eyebrow sort of way......

http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...400-121108.jpgthis is Beth Ditto .....not the author of Nibbly Pig

http://nibblypig.wordpress.com/2009/...-and-1-dd-cup/

found this interesting, too
 

Welcome to the thread Beloved,

I truly don't think that this is just for celebrating people of size, but celebrating people as a whole. Far too often our society places beauty in the context of size, making alot of us think that being skinny/slim etc is the key to being beautiful ~ of course the rest of us know better, but when we are inundated with images of thin women and people believe that those pics are the end all be all of beauty it gets frustrating. Its about time that society begin to embrace all of its imperfections ~ if God wanted us all to be skinny then he'd have made us that way, but he didn't so I believe that we are all who we are for a very good reason ........... lets all remember to embrace ourselves, love ourselves however we look and know that we are worth being valued as human beings (f)

Wow, LWF, this was great! I would love to do roly poly kissagrams :)

I am sure you would be great at it!

Love the main woman in this segment!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1tlbAgE5U&feature=related"]Fat Acceptance Part 1 - YouTube[/nomedia]

Love all the confidence, energy, and fun in this. It's all about not putting life on hold and learning to love oneself!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0fZvC581tc&feature=related"]Fox 11 Special Report: Done with Dieting - YouTube[/nomedia]

Have you all seen this? especially 2:15
 

Love this, LWF! OutKast sings another favorite mine: Ms. Jackson (can never get the tune out of my head!)

Feminism, weight, and the Olympics!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fat-fit...HRlc3QD;_ylv=3

can a thinnish feme plop down here? :byebye:

Totally! All sizes welcome here!
Nice to see ya :)

One of my all-time favorites and on my "walking" playlist.

Thanks for showing the vid! It adds a lot to the song:)

I am hosting a Spice of Life party for my customers at my store.

I have 35 people signed up and most are bringing friends.

My financial mentors at the university and BVR were shocked at first that I was throwing this party.

I was shocked they didnt get it.

I looked right back at them, with my own shocked face, and asked them
"What, fat women cant be sexy? We arent sensual? Don't you think this goes along with the mission of my store? That stereotypes abound and this is one of them?"

I am amazed I just have 35 signed up....lol

so tonight was the Spice of Life party at my Pretty & Plus Store.We had about 20 people there, all plus size ladies. Some had never been to one of these and it showed. They were nervous at first. But as we cackled and roared, a magnificent ladies of pleasure, the virgins eased into it and became One with us!

I looked around the room while we were laughing loudly, and smiled. Women of ample size, glorying in their sensuality, enjoying the company of other women who were unashamed of how they looked.

During snacks, this was actually brought up. One said she had gone to a party like this before, but felt very uncomfortable in a group of mostly very thin, very young ladies. Even tho she herself was young too, she felt she couldnt compete sexually with thin women. A GREAT discussion followed, with women sharing their stories, past and present. Our demonstrator was very young, and also plus, and she listened aptly.

I got squeals when I asked if the glass penis with the wide base could be used in a strap on. It cant. The wide base isnt what I was thinking it would be. I did get one of their glass ones, and cant wait to get it to use!

I love love love the magic that is happening...one lady cried at the end,as we were all parting. She said a year ago, she was truly agoraphobic and no one could get her to leave her house. She said, "look at me now! I'm at a sex toy party and not afraid!"

Sometimes my life is really small and I feel like I am not part of the bigger world. And then something like this happens and I feel like my world couldnt get much bigger....

Miss Tia, your stories are a delight to share in, thanks so much!

nice to ee you too - :rrose:

Now for something completely silly
 

"Telling fat people they ought to be thin is about as helpful as telling gay people they should be straight"
article by PAUL CAMPOS below (love him!):

http://www.salon.com/writer/paul_campos/

So here's a question is this thread for femme's only or can a stocky butch be part of it also, I think some have come to believe that butch's don't have the same insecurities that femme's do in regards to weight.

I have struggled with my weight all my life, and tried and tried to maintain my athletic body to no avail, and now just try to keep a healthy weight. The thing is that for years I thought that women wanted those fine toned athletic bodies and wouldn't give me the time of day, nevermind want me sexually, or so it seemed.

It wasn't until I actually met some women who were ecstatic that I wasn't a slim Jim and embraced my voluptuousness and in doing so made me feel more comfortable about me.

I say all this only to acknowledge and support this thread in letting people know that although we may not be society's "norm"...what we look like is the norm for us and we are dang proud of it. I find BBW women some of the most confident and sexiest women around, and some would be surprised at how agile some BBW women can be...I know I was...."w".

Thank you for this thread and enlightening the masses.

SaltyButch, butches are more than welcome on this thread! And whether someone is fat, thin, or somewhere in the middle, everyone is welcome. Your post was right on point. I appreciate what you have to say very much.

I understand what you have to say about worrying about meeting others' expectations in the dating world. That's why I but "bbw" in my name. At the time I was single, and I wanted whomever might be interested in dating to know right away that if they wanted someone thin they were barking up the wrong tree :D

Marisa, I understand your point, my reference to "healthy" is what I deem healthy for me, I have long given up trying to appease others in that regard and live solely by the opinion that truly matters...Mine.

I agree about binary thinking. People can be fat positive AND health positive. They don't need to oppose each other, same as we wouldn't say "pretty but fat." Some people believe that dieting, most of which involves yo-yoing, is actually very unhealthy for the body. I also want to add that people on diets are welcome to be on this thread. It's not about saying, "You have to take this position." It's just about providing a space that explores a different perspective and offers a reprieve from pro diet talk. I feel healthiest when i am not obsessing about the numbers on a scale or worrying over everything I eat. I treat my body most kindly when I am not constantly obsessing about it, as we are taught to do in a patriarchal culture. First and foremost to me, fat is a feminist issue.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! And remember:
Like anything referred to as "Muffin Top" could ever be a bad thing! :)

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...emtime/bbw.png

Feeling conflicted
 

This year life threw me a bit of a curve health-wise. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (on top of the osteoarthritis I already have), and it seems the RA may be to blame for nearly closing off one of the carotid arteries in my neck, which makes my blood pressure skyrocket. As a result, I signed up for Weight Watchers again about 10 days ago, just to try to ease my joints and to help my blood pressure go back to normal.

I'm conflicted because I've been fat my whole life, and I've always considered myself a fat positive person, yet here I am giving money to the diet industry. I feel dirty, like I'm betraying fat positive politics even when I know taking off 10% of my body weight will make a tremendous difference to the pain I experience.

Have any of you ever gone through that? Having to lose weight for physical reasons (I can't bring myself to say for 'health' reasons) and feeling bad about it?

First of all, I love that song in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane! :)

On a serious note, about your post, I certainly can relate to what you are saying. While I've not done Weight Watchers, I consider it one of the safer programs around. I think using a program like WW and losing 1-2 pounds per week is generally thought to be the safer way to go when it comes to dieting. Well, WW calls it a "lifestyle change," but I think we can safely say that if one is counting points, one is dieting! :D. I think a 10% weight loss sounds like a very reasonable goal. I appreciate your honesty in your conflicting feelings.

One reason I started this thread was because I was so disturbed by hearing people describe very low calorie diets (e.g. 500-800 calories a day, as well as injecting pregnancy hormones) as healthy. I believe that rarely contributes to long term weight loss or to health in general. I believe that in the long run such programs generally lead to malnutrition and a host of other medical problems. I also rarely believe that diet pills and weight loss surgery, particularly the more invasive permanent types, are healthy. I also am wary of people online congratulating one another for losing weight. We really don't know if they are bulimic or anorexic, and I think it's particularly scary when people lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. That can contribute to many health problems and also have the long term (e.g. five year) side effect of significant weight gain. If someone is more active and is eating healthier and that is what they want, great, but let's not automatically assume someone's weight loss is a healthy thing. As women, we are taught to assume that, but as a feminist I questioned it and came out strongly as believing that someone's weight does not always correspond to someone's health. I believe that one's health is much better served by considering the big picture of one's life, not just the numbers on the scale.

I think it's very possible to be fat positive and also lose a little weight at a healthy pace. I believe in Health at Every Size (HAES), and what this means to me is that one doesn't use "weight loss" as a proxy for health. Instead, if one seeks a healthy mind, body, and soul, one does healthy things for oneself, in the area of exercise, eating, and being kind to oneself. Part of being kind to myself was to start this thread, a place where people can celebrate themselves and love themselves where they are now, regardless of whether they are working on new health goals or not. I do not believe thin equals healthy any more than I believe that fat equals unhealthy. I believe that it's all very individual.

Thank you for posting. Sometimes I get a little lonely in here :byebye:

Hey, has this been posted in here yet?


http://www.dominodollhouse.com/index...&category_id=1

I went shopping at the Plus size section of Forever 21. Big thumbs down imo. They're highest size is a 3X and seems equivalent to a size 22. That's quite small for a "3X." That should not be highest size in plus size imo!

I love looking at real Plus Size women in fashion online but am wary to buy clothes online. i think the fit is so important. I guess I'm picky! But I love looking!

I want to love Domino Dollhouse, but I think I'm just too old for their clothing. There's nothing there I could wear to work, and I'm not the type to wear those items for play. I wish I was, though. I know lots of people who love their clothes!