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Article Excerpt
Over the past several decades, there has emerged a relatively large and varied body of work relating to anthropological, psychological, and sociological aspects of body fat (e.g., Bordo, 1993; Crandall, 1994; Hesse-Biber, 1996; Longhurst, 2005; Probyn, 2000; Stearns, 2002). One particular aspect of this literature relates to the idealization of various body sizes within particular socioeconomic (e.g., Swami, Knight, Tovee, Davies, & Furnham, 2007; Swami & Tovee, 2005a,b, 2007a,b) and historical contexts (Swami, Gray, & Furnham, 2007; for a review, see Swami & Furnham, 2008). Specifically, many authors have documented the stigmatization and denigration of body fat within contemporary (Western) societies (Swami, Chan, Wong, Furnham, & Tovee, 2008; Swami et al., 2008), partly as a means of serving hegemonic interests (Bordo, 1993; Campos, 2004; Lebesco, 2004; Lebesco & Braziel, 2001; Swami, 2007; Wolf, 1990). As Brown and Rothblum (1989) argued, this "fat oppression" represents the following:
[a] hatred and discrimination against fat people, primarily fat women, solely because of their body size. It is the stigmatization of being fat, the terror of fat, the rationale for a thousand diets and an equal number of compulsive exercise programs. It is the equation of fat with being out-of-control, with laziness, with deeplyrooted pathology, with ugliness. (p. 1)
Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of authors and groups began to challenge this fat oppression, and more recently there has developed a substantive body of work based loosely on "fat studies" (see Ellin, 2006). Although this literature is highly varied, a number of specific strands can be discerned, including antidiscrimination research (e.g., Crandall, 1994; Crandall & Martinez, 1996; Puhl & Brownell, 2003), public health and social issues surrounding fatness (Saguy & Riley, 2005), and fat acceptance (e.g., Howells, 1993; LeBesco, 2004; Oliver, 2006). In terms of the latter, for example, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance in the United States has reclaimed the word "fat" to promote its use as a positive signifier (Howells, 1993), whereas others have discussed social aspects of "fat pride" (Probyn, 2000).
Related to the discussion of fat acceptance is the phenomenon of "fat admiration" (i.e., a sexual attraction to heavier partners; Blickenstorfer, 1996; Fabrey, 1972; Wachtel, 1976). Fat admiration is difficult to define precisely, but is usually used in relation to individuals (typically, heterosexual men) who find attractive someone considered clinically overweight (a body mass index [BMI] higher than 25 kg/[m.sup.2]) or obese (BMI above 30kg/[m.sup.2]). The issue is complicated by the fact that some fat acceptance authors reject terms such as "overweight" and "obese," which are considered to stigmatize fat (e.g., Schroeder, 1992; Wann, 1999). Moreover, the preferences of fat admirers (FAs) themselves can be wide ranging, and the targets of those preferences can range from being slightly overweight to morbidly obese. Even so, a consistent thread among FAs appears to be their rejection of the thin ideal as an unnecessarily prescriptive societal construct (Swami & Furnham, in press).
Perhaps surprisingly, there has been little discussion about fat admiration within academic spheres, particularly within the psychological literature on interpersonal attraction. This is noteworthy given that supportive fat acceptance communities now exist in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and have developed to combat weight discrimination and stigmatisation. Less frequently, these communities act as avenues for the development of relationships between FAs and overweight individuals. Much of this development has taken place online and there now exist many dating and matchmaking Web sites for "big beautiful women" (BBWs) and "big handsome men" (BHMs), and it is also possible to find specialist erotica dedicated to overweight and obese women and men (cf. Blank, 2000; Kulick, 2005).
Nevertheless, a small number of studies have begun the task of examining fat admiration in detail (e.g., for a discussion of BHMs, see Monaghan, 2005). In a recent study, for example, Swami and Furnham (in press) discussed various explanations for the preferences of FAs, including the possibility that FAs are heavier than the general population and so are attracted to others who most resemble themselves in terms of body size, and that fat admiration stems from an idealisation of individuals who challenge social norms about sexual identity and appearance (cf. Mayer, 1993). Similarly, Saguy (2002) discussed "fat heterosexuality" in terms of fetishistic behavior: She suggested that the attraction of male heterosexual FAs to BBWs is a form of fetishism that serves to reinforce gender inequality. In this sense, fat admiration may not be very different from "thin heterosexuality" in that both objectify women and, in doing so, reinforce the ubiquity of a woman's body weight for her appearance. Indeed, Saguy discussed the relationship between "feeders" and "feedees"--relationships where one individual is provided with abundant food supplies to encourage weight gain--in precisely such terms. Feeders, who tend to be men, are likely to have the upper hand in such relationships, as feedees become dependent on them for sexual gratification, as well as nutritional intake.
To date, however, only one study has explicitly documented the body size preferences of FAs. Using line drawings of the...
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