Big Girl Chic: Plus-Size Retail Growing

[MinnesotaSmith]

It's interesting to see this concept flourish and overweight people in the spotlight. You'd think someone would have come up with this much sooner.

However, pick up any major national magazine and look for the fat people. They're still conspicuously missing. Much the same way Blacks were ignored on TV back in the 50's.

That's the first thing I do with any new magazine in a waiting area is scan it for the fat people. Still not represented.

Who would want to PAY to see them? People would rather look at pictures of attractive people; consider "People", "Playboy", etc. Periodical publishers are in the same situation as movie makers; they wish to sell as many copies in their niche as they can. There ARE magazines and websites devoted to pictures of morbidly obese people in the porn industry; like websites devoted to pictures of amputees (I know of one from someone sending it to me, but won't post it here), they're considered fetish mags/sites, not a normal/wider-based market.

[Summerthyme]

I can't imagine a loving father making remarks like that! Man, have I lived a sheltered life or what? My husband adored (still does!) our daughter, and thought she was beautiful. She wasn't conventionally pretty, but has a stunning, athletic figure. Even so, he'd have never criticized her appearance. What a world!

And speaking of "what a world", this stuff starts SO young, it's sickening. A few years back my youngest son was dating his girlfriend-from-hell (that's the politest term I use for her- don't ask!). Her family was best described as "poor white trash with cash"... IOW, they weren't poor, but otherwise...

She brought her little niece over one day... gorgeous little blond toddler, just over 2 years old. She picked her up, and the little one's t-shirt hiked up. Like you do with babies, I reached over and poked her gently in her tummy, tickling her, and pulled her shirt back down. She looked down, pulled it down even farther and said "I'z fat". At TWO!!! We assured her that she absolutely was NOT fat... and she wasn't.. she was a perfect, sturdy little toddler.

I haven't seen anyone in that family in years, and I don't want to, but I'd bet almost any amount of money that the little girl is now a promiscuous, possibly anorexic or bulimic teenager. Because that's where it starts...

Summerthyme

[Avandris]

How do you "ignore" someone on here? I am finally deciding to ignore MS. His comments are always so bigoted that they always make me sneer that I just don't want to read his comments any longer.

*** in response to him though... I would rather look at photos of HEALTHY overweight people than look at skeletons in clothing. You look at enough photos of starving people from WWII or work with the elderly that are slowly wasting away and you no longer view the morbidly thin (Fashionable) look as attractive. You only view them as photos of unhealthy or dying people. Maybe they won't die soon, but they will die earlier due to lack of nutrients.

[packyderms_wife]

Who would want to PAY to see them? People would rather look at pictures of attractive people; consider "People", "Playboy", etc. Periodical publishers are in the same situation as movie makers; they wish to sell as many copies in their niche as they can. There ARE magazines and websites devoted to pictures of morbidly obese people in the porn industry; like websites devoted to pictures of amputees (I know of one from someone sending it to me, but won't post it here), they're considered fetish mags/sites, not a normal/wider-based market.

wow MS's post is so inappropriate!!!

[MinnesotaSmith]

wow MS's post is so inappropriate!!!

We were discussing body weight, other people's reactions to same, and magazines portraying/not portraying people of various body weights.

These days, you have to risk be called "politically-incorrect", "racist", "bigoted", etc. to speak the truth.

[cyberiot]

How do you "ignore" someone on here? I am finally deciding to ignore MS. His comments are always so bigoted that they always make me sneer that I just don't want to read his comments any longer.

Go to the top of the board and click on your Username. On the menu bar that appears, click on User CP. A Control Panel will appear on the left of your screen. Scroll down to Settings and Options, and click on Edit Ignore List. Type the offender's name in the blank (case and spelling count) and click Okay.

[packyderms_wife]

We were discussing body weight, other people's reactions to same, and magazines portraying/not portraying people of various body weights.

These days, you have to risk be called "politically-incorrect", "racist", "bigoted", etc. to speak the truth.

We were NOT discussing porn here, you brought that up, which is highly inappropriate! Oh and as a fat person I really don't appreciate being referred to as a fetish. You are a creep!!! And the fact that you need to turn everything into some sort of lurid fithly sex act makes you creepy!

K-

[MinnesotaSmith]

I would rather look at photos of HEALTHY overweight people than look at skeletons in clothing. You look at enough photos of starving people from WWII or work with the elderly that are slowly wasting away and you no longer view the morbidly thin (Fashionable) look as attractive. You only view them as photos of unhealthy or dying people. Maybe they won't die soon, but they will die earlier due to lack of nutrients.

I agree that the concentration-camp survivors in women's fashion magazines are as unattractive as they are unhealthy (e.g., very). Heterosexual men typically have little interest in seeing images of women who look like that. As evidence. look at the women in a Sports Illustrated calendar; no 12-12-12s there (or 60-55-60s, either). I suspect the reasons for the discrepancy are two-fold: 1) those who sell the women's fashion mags are consciously attempting to make women viewing them insecure about their appearances, so they'll buy the clothes, cosmetics, accessories, etc., advertised in them, and 2) fashion designers disproportionately tend to be homosexual if male, and youth-obsessed (of both sexes) to the point of approaching pedophilia.

[cyberiot]

We were discussing body weight, other people's reactions to same, and magazines portraying/not portraying people of various body weights.

These days, you have to risk be called "politically-incorrect", "racist", "bigoted", etc. to speak the truth.

Quit playing the victim, Smith. Your remarks were intended to be provocative.

Either ramp up the courtesy and consideration, or log off.

[MinnesotaSmith]

We were NOT discussing porn here, you brought that up, which is highly inappropriate! Oh and as a fat person I really don't appreciate being referred to as a fetish. You are a creep!!! And the fact that you need to turn everything into some sort of lurid fithly sex act makes you creepy!

K-

The publishing MARKET considers magazines focusing on pictures of seriously overweight people to be a type of highly specialized niche. Their term for that sort of specialization is "fetish", or unusual obsession with something not of fairly universal appeal. By contrast, a book of pictures of babies, cute kittens, wildflowers in bloom during spring, mountain scenes, etc., would NOT be so considered, having much more universal appeal. Understand the word better now?