It’s taken almost three decades, but I am proud to bring you the first issue of AVN with a big beautiful woman on the cover, and a long-overdue feature article on the BBW market to accompany it. Ironically, it was only a few months ago that similar subject matter put us in the crosshairs of a number of concerned readers.
In the April 2009 edition of AVN, the Retail News column stirred up a minor shitstorm because of a few ill-chosen words. Covering the marketing of BBW titles, writer Nelson X made a number of observations that were right on the nose, among them the fact that some men are embarrassed to be seen with large women and find vicarious fulfillment in BBW porn. (Truth is, some men are ashamed to even have desires for BBWs, which I will address shortly.) Some took umbrage at this unquestionable truth, not because of an inherent flaw in the writer’s reasoning, but because, in jest, he chose to use some less-than-flattering terms to describe fat women elsewhere in the article. Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, so I understand why some were offended by his language. I also empathize with the author.
Why? Because I hesitated when I typed the words “fat women” in the paragraph above. It’s an accurate description, plain and hardly derogatory, yet I found myself questioning its political correctness. In a split second, I wrestled with the terminology: Should I go with “women of size” or “plus-size gals” or “BBWs”? Then I said fuck it and typed “fat women.” Why? Let me tell you.
1) I am fat. Though I enjoyed a good four-decade run of being extremely thin thanks to a runaway metabolism, one day it just shut down and in no time I was tipping the scales at 325 pounds. I had doubled in size, and it felt like I was carrying myself around on my own back. So while I empathize with the discrimination, derision, and downright discomfort that comes with being overweight, I describe myself as “fat” without blinking an eye. My sense of humor tends to run toward the self-effacing, which can be at odds with the often fuzzy notion of political correctness. Just because I refer to myself as “Fatso” on occasion doesn’t mean I expect every overweight person to do the same. And if I jokingly choose to call myself, say, a “pig,” I would not use that terminology to describe others unless I was referring to a specific barnyard animal other than Rush Limbaugh. Which brings me to my next point:
2) Political correctness is highly overrated. Yes, we all need to be sensitive to the feelings of others (see above), but being PC has taken on a tyrannical overtone that I often find disturbing. I recently had a discussion about the need to stop using animal terms to describe women. Really? I understand that “cow” and “pig” and “heifer” are insulting terms, but do we also dispense with “fox” and “cougar” and “minx” while we’re at it? Again, much of the debate boils down to humor, which is purely subjective. And though I am a dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying, commie pinko liberal, I have found that the only people more humorless that ultra right-wingers are über lefties.
3) Fat women are hot. I’m not much of a hip-hop fan, but I do have something in common with the gentleman who refers to himself as Sir Mix-A-Lot. Beyond liking big butts (and I cannot lie), I also have tremendous respect and admiration for large women (and men) who are not only comfortable with their bodies, but who aggressively flaunt their sexuality as well. I have always had a special place in my heart—and slacks—for zaftig ladies, but what I call “zaftig” another man may call “fat.” And that’s when it all comes down to semantics. No offense, but I am a fat man who finds some fat women attractive, and I am obviously comfortable admitting it. What I do find offensive, however, is the man who secretly harbors a lust for “fat women” while outwardly eschewing anything over a size 2. He is just as pathetic as the virulently homophobic yet closeted gay man. And this is exactly the behavior that was described in the aforementioned article that caused such an uproar. By attacking this thesis because of questionable word choices elsewhere in his article, the author’s detractors missed the point, and in doing so, threw the BBW out with the bath water.
—Tony Lovett, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
This article originally appeared in the December issue of AVN.
