What Type Of Fat Girl Are You?

I consider myself a pretty confident curvy gal. Surprise surprise. I mean, that's what gave me the courage to start Big&Beautiful&Bold in the first place. Something I often do if I'm at a loss for a story idea is turn to good old Google to see what the latest news in the plus-size community is. Today I came across a great article by Huffington Post blogger Bethany Rutter entitled "It Ain't Easy Being Rad: The Three Types of Plus-Size Women." Bethany essentially grouped chubby chicks into three categories: conservative fats, moderate fats and radicals.

• Conservative Fats: those who DO NOT like their bodies. They don't care for fashion, shy away from anything that makes them look remotely big and are permamently self-conscious and inherently self-loathing.


• Moderate Fats: those who have some interest in style, but only if/when things are appropriate for their bodies. They believe in finding "flattering" apparel, and are not often experimental with their wardrobes.


• Radicals: those who are self-loving and proud of it. They wear anything ane everything, from stripes to tight dresses to Hipster patterns.

Bethany couldn't be more right. If I had to narrow down the types of chubby women I've been around my whole life, they'd all fit into one of these categories. Hell, I've fit into all these categories at one point or another. If you'd told me during high school that I'd write a blog about loving your fat and use a bikini photo of myself as the background I would've quickly said, "No F-ing way!" If you'd told me this two years ago, I still probably would've had some skepticism. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm at a place now where I'd definitely be categorized as a radical. I wear whatever I want, whether this means a tight striped dress, a pencil skirt, Urban Outfitters' jeggings or bright neon shirts (well maybe not neon, but this isn't because I'm scared of my belly showing, I just think neon is sort of tacky). Just today I purchased this trippy-looking, multi-colored fall dress from H&M that is pretty body-hugging, and I couldn't care less if my stomach blatantly bulges through it. Nor do I mind that my tookus looks ginormous in the velvet, burgundy leggings I bought from American Apparel to wear with it (I got a size L but their larges are a normal size M).

The only part of Bethany's post I took issue with came at the end when she writes, "The problem is that there are so many radical fats, and so little provision for us. It seems so much of the plus-size fashion market caters to conservative and moderate fats, not believing there are many, many girls out there dying to rock a VBO (visible belly outline) or expose some chubby thighs in a mini skirt." I fully agree that there are loads of radical fats out there, but I think there are plenty of stores that cater to us. Personally some of my favorites are ModCloth, ASOS, Forever 21, Torrid and H&M. All of these carry at least a 14, and most of them go up into the early 20s. Granted, there aren't nearly as many fashionable stores for plus-size ladies as there are for people size 10 and smaller. But I think it's fairly easy these days for a big gal to wear just about all the things a skinny one would -- from bikinis to mini-dresses to tight jeans to striped outfits to neon. This sort of article always makes me happy though -- hurray for fellow fat radicals! Now on to converting some of those conservatives or moderates (giggles evily).