Weight For It BBW
Oct 10, 2024
Carole Shaw, founder of BBW Magazine, shares how she coined the term Big Beautiful Woman to empower larger women in the late 1970s. She recounts the magazine's mission and involvement in advocating for dignity and respect. Tigress Osborne discusses her experiences organizing BBW parties that celebrate fat bodies as sexy and empowered spaces. They both explore how the term has evolved, the impact of fetishization, and the ongoing fight for body positivity and liberation in contemporary culture.
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BBW Had Mainstream Reach
- BBW Magazine reached national distribution with a readership of about 300,000 in the mid-80s.
- The magazine launched clothing lines and mainstream media coverage, making BBW widely visible then.
Perforated Activism Cards
- BBW included perforated 'Are you mad as hell?' cards for readers to mail complaints to stores and airlines.
- Readers used these to demand better sizing and treatment in public services and retail.
Challenging Medical Narratives
- Carol Shaw argued in 1982 that medical risks of extra weight were exaggerated and social stress often causes more harm.
- She reframed 'fat' as a neutral classification, not an insult.
