BBW is an acronym that means Big Beautiful Woman/Women and was first coined in 1979 by the creator of BBW Magazine, Carole Shaw. The word exploded onto the scene, and now women that haven’t even heard of the magazine use the term to describe themselves. The term is very subjective as to it’s meaning, and has no defined upper or lower weight limit. Any woman that considers themselves overweight or obese can use the term. Many women adopt this term because they find other descriptive words like full-figured, plus-sized, or fat as negative.

The term has several near-synonyms with varying shades of meaning:

• Full-figured or Rubenesque – the latter term referring to the art of Peter Paul Rubens, best known for portraying full-bodied women.
• Voluptuous and zaftig – usually connote ripeness, sensuality, and a body shape involving large breasts and wide hips. (Wikipedia, BBW)

BHM is the male equivalent to BBW. BHM stands for Big Handsome Man, and is used to describe larger sexually and/or physically attractive men. It is an even newer creation to the colloquial speech of body descriptions. These men are large or extremely large. They have less synonyms to choose from, and men like to feel sexy too.

Other variants are:

• BBBW which means Big Beautiful Black Woman
• SSBBW which means Super-Sized Beautiful Woman (there is a huge debate as to where the line is from BBW to SSBBW)

I’ve been identifying as a BBW for years. I like the beautiful factor, and it’s a positive feeling for me to declare that I’m beautiful. I don’t have a problem calling myself fat either, though. I use BBW when I’m around other larger ladies because I don’t like trying to explain why I use the term fat to everyone, and I certainly don’t want to insult someone who doesn’t consider themselves fat.

There is a sensitivity when it comes to identifying as BBW or fat, and it comes from the judgement of others on the woman. It leaves us questioning if BBW needs more definition and how to apply that to the acronym. Things like putting weight limits wouldn’t work well because so many women carry weight differently. There are those of us who are heavy on top or bottom but slim in the middle – are they BBW? What about ladies that just have a lot of curves – are they BBW?

In any BBW-related forum you enter, you will see questions as to how to know if you are BBW.

Let me tell you how to know.

Look in the mirror. Call yourself BBW. If it feels good, then use it. If it doesn’t, then don’t use it. It’s that simple. You could weigh 350 lbs, and if BBW doesn’t feel like the right word for you then you don’t have to use it.

Embrace who you are. If BBW or BHM isn’t a label you can wear, then don’t. Every woman and man should feel confident in their skin. Whether that means you need a new label or not.

I am big. I am beautiful, and I am woman.