Comments on: Chubettes, the badly-named clothing line for overweight girls, 1957

By: AP²

AP² — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:51:00 +0000

Slight correction, fat people are fat because they eat more than they use. I know some people who eat tremendous amounts of food (even Ice Cream) and won’t get fat, simply because they exercise accordingly.

One of them got fat in two weeks because he continued eating the same despite being unable to exercise; food habits are often a hard thing to beat.

By: AP²

AP² — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:46:00 +0000

That depends on whether you’re actually fat or perceive yourself as fat. Anorexia does actually hurt.

By: Richard Wages

Richard Wages — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:46:00 +0000

baby got back

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:15:00 +0000

No, it’s okay to mock people’s bodies if they’re skinny and they’re supermodels and pictures of them with white powder around their nostrils keep showing up.

By: Shinkuhadoken

Shinkuhadoken — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:12:00 +0000

And get fat from shitty pizza?

I hear that's a vegetable now. You can't get fat on those!

By: Moriarty

Moriarty — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:42:00 +0000

And get fat from shitty pizza?

By: Moriarty

Moriarty — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:41:00 +0000

It’s ok to mock people’s bodies if they’re skinny.

By: Palomino

Palomino — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:28:00 +0000

John Waters, Hairspray, Hefty Hideaway, Camp.

By: lknope

lknope — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:48:00 +0000

@The Mudshark
True, true. Until you run into someone like Herman Cain.

By: lknope

lknope — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:45:00 +0000

@twitter-44505040:disqus No, I understand that within the context of the 1950′s, this ad wasn’t as horrible as the usual sentiments about chubbiness. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t actually horrible. I get your point though. What really gets me is that booklet. Let me tell you how to solve your problems, fatty! When in reality, the problem is other people, not the chubbettes and chubbies.

And I agree that there are a lot of insensitive comments in here. Plus a total lack of awareness that the ads then and the ads now, especially, depict underweight girls and women as the standard of beauty rather than a range of weights. There’s nothing wrong with being skinny, average or chubby, in my opinion. Bounds of reason, of course.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:31:00 +0000

I’ll just leave this here.

Disclaimer: I think that you should eat well and get regular exercise and whatever you look like is fine.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Husky CORDS. [shivers]

I can hear them coming closer even now… shoopshoopshoop…

By: Maddy

Maddy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:09:00 +0000

Right now someone is buying the domain name “www.NUDEchubbettes.com”

By: Kathy Withycombe

Kathy Withycombe — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:39:00 +0000

And she still has a 16 inch waist!

By: EH

EH — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:22:00 +0000

What kind of gingham is that?

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:15:00 +0000

As if being slim (read: attractive) automatically makes you happy and self confident.

It sure doesn´t hurt.

By: Perizade

Perizade — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:54:00 +0000

You know what? Reading some of the comments here, it seems Chubbettes as a company was a helluva lot more sensitive. I’m seeing a lot of “there are waaaaaaay more fat kids bigger than ever stomping around!!!” comments. I agree nutritious food is to hard to get a hold of, and too many activities are sedentary. But those sort of comments are sort of annoying.

By: Perizade

Perizade — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Ilknope, think of it in terms of the 1950′s. I did say it was patronizing, wasn’t it? But take it from my mother, a “chubbette” from the 50′s herself. The typical approach was shaming and unhealthy diets, and sack like hand made clothes. Making ready-to-wear plus-size clothing, or even providing patterns, was a novel idea at the time. People even thought of it as enabling. At least we somewhat understand now that larger size is not a result of greed and laziness, but back then, few people thought otherwise.

By: 1ipstick

1ipstick — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Chubbettes. Two ‘B’s. It’s written out several times in the ad for you to copy. How did you manage to think it was ‘Chubettes’ THREE times? Gah!

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Husky CORDS. [shivers]

By: mrclamo

mrclamo — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:11:00 +0000

It’s not so much that “Chubettes” is a bad name, but rather the concept itself. By that, I mean no matter what you call a fat person, the term will be percieved as derrogatory.

Also, and science will back me up on this, fat people are fat because they eat too much. Period. I’m fat, but I know it’s because I eat ice cream like it’s going out of style. I’m not going to get all offended at being called “fat” or whatever. I have a mirror; those people are correct–I am fat. Calling me “Plus Sized” or whatever is like calling the slow readers “Blackbirds”–nobody is fooled.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:04:00 +0000

Agreed. Anyone who speaks about ‘chubby’ ladies as anything less than a lady has some tactless remarks coming their way.

By: UrbanUndead

UrbanUndead — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:51:00 +0000

And for dapper young lads, the special occasion line… Chubby.

“Does your son have an important event to attend? He’s sure to have all eyes on him, if he’s sporting his Chubby!”

By: Heather Cummings

Heather Cummings — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:26:00 +0000

I would totally rock clothes from Chubbettes if I could. I love the name! And I agree that the model is not supposed to look fat. Most plus sized stores today also use models on the lowest end of the plus sized scale.

By: Teller

Teller — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:24:00 +0000

L. Gidding & Co. actually had three categories of girls’ wear: Chubbette’s™, Saucy Sausage™ and HolyFuckingJesus™.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:16:00 +0000

Sears sold “Pretty Plus”. Ugh. God I hated that. I wasn’t even that big, either.

By: yragentman

yragentman — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:06:00 +0000

Times have certainly changed.

1957 chubby is nothing like 2011 chubby

http://www.weightlosssurgerychannel.com/breaking-wls-news/obesity-increases-health-risks-for-teenage-girls.html/

http://www.obesityhelp101.com/f-as-in-fat-how-obesity-threatens-america%E2%80%99s-future-2011.html

This is a serious and tragic situation – largely due to systemic food and education policy. Subsidizing corn syrup is a HUGE contributor to this out of control public health disaster.

By: The Dour Salmon

The Dour Salmon — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:49:00 +0000

I would just like to casually and not at ALL pedantically point out that Chubbettes has two b’s in it.

By: lknope

lknope — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Did I read the same advertisement as you? She can be as “happy and self assured as her slimmer schoolmates,” if she wears Chubbettes. As if being slim (read: attractive) automatically makes you happy and self confident. I get it, it’s an ad so they are going to try and make you believe that their product will make you happy but the comparison to skinnier kids is unnecessary. And then the booklet? Understand her problems, shyness, tactless remarks and the “game of dieting”? Why does someone chubby necessarily have problems, shyness, make tactless remarks and diet? That seems like the furthest thing from sensitive to me.

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:42:00 +0000

When I was a kid, all department stores had racks of “slim”, regular, and “chubby” sizes for girls, and “slim”, regular, and “husky” for boys. The first time my mother took me to the “chubby” rack, I immediately went on a diet and lost 20 pounds -at age 12! Believe me, there was quite a stigma attached to that rack.