Gawking
Gawker posts a video of an allegedly thin, allegedly airheaded television host, who reports on the comparative intellgence levels of women with various waist-to-hip ratios. The comments, of course, are where it gets interesting.
“Stop saying curvy when you mean fat”:
Also, my personal pet peeve is people who use the word “curvy” to mean fat. I have curves. I have big hips and a small waist and big boobs. That’s curvy. But I am not fat. A person can be both fat and curvy, but being curvy does not make you fat!
“Fat is not attractive and fat people are not voluptuous”:
I hate that the word “voluptuous” has been hijacked by the fatties. Mo’Nique saying she’s curvy is like that Nolita model saying she’s healthy and trim. We’re the voluptuous, well-endowed 36-29-36 ones. (Well, I’m 38 in the hips, so I probably need some work.) Plus, who says you can’t be both attractive and smart?
Is there a chart for figuring out when I stop being curvy and start being bigalicious?
Ugh, seriously. As much as I get people wanting a nicer term than “plus size” to describe larger women, they can’t have curvy! It’s mine. I think we need a new word for sexy plus-size women. Might I suggest bigalicious?
A “defense” of curvy women that insults thin women, men… and curvy women.
Men who like curvy women (by that I mean ass-men) are men who like WOMEN. Men who like skinny boy-body women are either haters, men who are afraid of women, or in the closet. I know because I’ve been both skinny and curvalicious at different times in my life, and I get more positive attention when I have some meat on my bones.
Marilyn Monroe’s name is dropped. Maybe there should be a Monroe’s corollary to Godwin’s Law:
Can I declare a moratorium on Quoting Marilyn Monroe’s Dress Size every time the word ‘curvy woman’ comes up? She was not some sort of hour glass goddess from a different time when all men loved and respected women with tits and ass. Yes, it is pathetic that she’d be considered fat by today’s standards. But even then, she was asked to lose weight by the studios and was on a constant diet, which explains her yo-yo’ing weight. And is she really the best role model for natural, womanly beauty? She of the plastic surgery, fake hair and pancake make-up? Hooray for Hollywood.
Why every girl needs a gay best friend:
I took a gay boy with me shopping to Lane Bryant one time. That day, they happened to be handing out some new nutritional bar as a promotion. And he went, “Oh my God, is it always like this in here?” And I said, “No, usually it’s just sticks of butter.” And he said, “Oh my God, I LOVE fat girl stores!!!”
It goes on. And on. And on. Happy reading!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Gossip, Marilyn's Law, Media, Video
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Whatabitch.
Why does she have her non-bigalicious ass in the Lane Bryant anyway??
Yes, we fatties eat sticks of butter daily. But what do you expect from people who post at Gawker? Something of, ahem, substance?
As for the definition of voluptuous, it really does apply to heavy women. The actual word means something that is AMPLE and UNRESTRAINED. What would better describe us fatties eating our butter sticks at Lane Bryant?
You know… I was going to send you the link to an article in this week’s New Scientist – headlined “Plump mums have clever kids”. Which is almost inside-out from the responses above. They didn’t say “curvy”; they used a word which would generally be taken to mean “overweight”.
It was actually only a brief news item – there was a much better article in this week’s Sunday Times (UK) which gave the ideal waist-hip ratio as around 0.6 to 0.7.
(Which doesn’t indicate a _very_ pear-shaped figure. My ratio is 0.73 – so just off the top of that – and I’d say I’m more hourglass-shaped than pear-shaped, though I might be deluding myself!)
I think you might have discovered Shakespeare’s sister.
Can’t she get her foot out of her mouth or has she given up trying?
Mind you she’s not partial, fat, thin, gay,(boy??!!because they’re all just like Peter Pan and never grow up).
What a twit!
I actually wouldn’t mind “bigalicious”.
And please pass the butter.
The insecurity of gawker commenters – it burns!
Why do thin hourglassy women get so worked up over fat women calling themselves curvy? Are they afraid someone is going to accidentally associate them with a fat woman? I’m fat and I’m curvy in the sense that I have big round breasts and hips – those are curves! And my rounded belly is a curve too… it just curves out instead of in. I would ask the woman above, when did “curvy” start meaning “tiny-waisted?” Same with voluptuous, argh.
Well the good news is, apparently we all now get to pick adjectives and claim them for our own and prohibit other people from using them if they don’t mean exactly what we do!
She can have “curvy” if she wants it so bad.
I have dibs on “cranky” “crabby” and “cupcake,” and from now on no one can use these words any more unless they ask my permission first and are referring to me (the first two) or to particularly delicious cupcakes. And nothing can be referred to as a cupcake if it has coconut in it, because I don’t personal like the flavor.
Seems only fair.
Marilyn Monroe’s name is dropped. Maybe there should be a Monroe’s corollary to Godwin’s Law:
Oh, AMEN to that.
Oh, by the way, if you look up “rubenesque” in wikipedia, it of course redirects to Rubens. But if you click on “rubenenque” in the Rubens article, it points to the entry on BBW. Which, BTW, discusses the word voluptuous.
Maybe the gal with the gay friend was being sarcastic about the sticks of butter? (Why would she be shopping in Lane Bryant if she wasn’t Lane Bryant-sized?)
I also thought the stick of butter thing was obviously a joke. I made the same assumption: if she’s shopping at Lane Bryant, she must be a fat chick. I thought it was funny!
Thirded. Sometimes it’s okay not to be offended.
On a related note, Kate Harding has taken Marilyn’s Law and run with it. check it out!
I just wish the entertainment media would stop rolling pictures of Jennifer Lopez when they need to do a story about “stars living large.” Seriously. For the last three years I’ve seen these stories, and they try to lump Jennifer Lopez in with Camryn Manheim (who calls herself “fat,” not curvy, if I’m not on crack).
Just so no one is confused: I love Camryn Manheim. Love her. I just don’t think J-Lo is “living large.”
I’m sick.
Thin entitlement ftw.
I personally don’t like when people use the word curvy at all because it seems to have no real meaning due to overuse—but seriously, no one owns the English language.
The word curvy really is meaningless.
Really, every human could technically be called “curvy.” What about the curve of the shoulder? The fingers? The ball of your foot? Your head? The knee? Heck, you could count muscles as curves! You could even count some bones poking out as curves! The list goes on and on.
Becky, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Not too long ago, I came across some girl on a message board whining about curvy=fat, and how people would think she was fat, too, and all of this other bs.
I don’t think either fat or thin women have a monopoly on the word curvy, though I’d never describe a thin woman as voluptous. That’s just my opinion, though.
Hmmmm.
Very interesting points.
I thought the common usage of the word curvy indicated that it described someone who is not narrow through the hips and bust. I think people associate it with an ample bottom and top.
Looks like it means different things to different people. Which is all right by me.
I understand people feel a sense of ownership on particular terms that describe body types based on their own association to it–but I find myself wondering who cares!!!!! Who cares if someone decides they like to refer to themselves as curvy. Why is it up to someone else to place some type of universal definition on a terminology that is so subjective.
If it makes someone feel more confident or at ease–I say use it as you wish. What’s the big fat deal?
I think the point is the fat thing and the fact that people act as if mere association with fatness is in itself degrading.
It’s about social status just like in the past with old fashioned etiquette. It’s also about keeping us in our place, we must be reminded that where our true duty lays, weight loss, we must not attempt to maintain or raise our self esteem whilst fat, lest it diminish our resolve.
I’m going to stop now as I’m laughing (I’m in a library).
Actually, a lot of skinny women walk into Lane Bryant thinking they can wear the clothes. I work for one and trust me the size 6 women do walk in thinking they can wear our stuff and then mutter about how it’s “a fat woman’s store”. Fuck them and Gawker’s moronic commentators can bite me too, because I swear “curvy” belongs to anyone and everyone.
It does not matter what size we are,but only if we are happy. no matter what word you use curvy,fat.etc. so ask yourself if your happy call what you choose too! Iam looking for fat camps on line.
Plump to me would be like a tufted pillow, healthy and firm.
Fat would be when you can count the rolls on your stomach, cellulite.
Obese, when you look like a barrell.
A woman with a skinny waist, who has not had liposuction, can never have too fat a butt or too big hips or breasts (ok maybe breasts can get too big even with no gut at all.)
A muscular butt, hips and thighs, which then have a thin layer of fat on top, to cover the muscles, are a turn-on. Not droopy, saggy, lazy fat, hanging down…..
Wow, thanks Paul, for a definitive answer to what each of these words mean! And further, thank you *so* much for pinpointing their correlation to sexiness. That said, could you please elaborate on the term “lazy fat?” Oh, and what measurement would “skinny waist” be? Just so I can be sure to base my self-esteem on it.
I think we can all rest easier, knowing that such a human dictionary is on the case!
BTW – it’s ‘barrel,’ not ‘barrell.’
I consider myself fat….but I would NEVER think of eating stick of butter just like that. SERIOUSLY…does anybody ever eat stick of butter just like that????
If “voluptuous” and “curvy” are now euphemisms overweight women use because they’re afraid of the word “fat,” what are the words used to describe women with small waists and ample bosoms?
Just wondering.
Waspish
Inside matters and at a rave they take people as they come all accepted and you cant be too realistic trust me ye x x x x x x love u and vibes AND should take people az day cum! Get it? X x