"Big Beautiful Woman" (commonly abbreviated as BBW) is a positive (non-pejorative) term for an overweight woman.

Meaning and usage

The terms "Big Beautiful Women" and "BBW" were coined by Carole Shaw in 1979, when she launched BBW Magazine, a fashion and lifestyle magazine for "plus-size" women. BBW Magazine trademarked the term "Big Beautiful Woman", which was later transferred to Dimensions Magazine. The term is also commonly used as a positive euphemism by those involved with the fat acceptance movement. The term has several near-synonyms with varying shades of meaning, such as "full-figured", "voluptuous", "zaftig", and "Rubenesque", the latter term referring to the art of Peter Paul Rubens, best known for portraying full-bodied women.

Variants

The acronym BBBW stands for Big Beautiful Black Woman. Another variant is SSBBW: Supersized Big Beautiful Woman. There is no formal definition which explains the exact difference between BBW and SSBBW. Some BBWs or SSBBWs consider themselves to be feedees. Dimensions Magazine considers a woman over 350 lbs to be an SSBBW.

Big Handsome Man

"Big Handsome Man" (BHM), or "Big Hulking Men", or sometimes "Big Beautiful Man" (BBM), refers to a physically or sexually attractive fat man. Women who are attracted to BHMs are called "Female Fat Admirers" (FFA). In the gay community, BHMs are sometimes called "chubs", and men who are attracted to BHMs are known as chubby chasers.