Chubby culture

The chubby community is a subset of the gay community, which is often divided into subcommunities for the purpose of establishing common interests with peers. Thus, Chubbies are gay men who are generally big and heavy. They have huge bellies and love men with big bellies. Some may be hairy as in the bear community but that is not a requirement.

Chubby men sometimes disassociate themselves from the gay community at large, having their own bars and social events where they can socialize with other members of the bear community. They have pageants (much like beauty pagents but generally hyper-sexual) where titles are given to winners. (Example: "Mr. Chubby International" and "Mr. Chaser International")

The chubby community was created by men who didn't feel that they fit into mainstream gay culture, believing it to place unnecessary emphasis on gay men who fit a particular bodily norm (thin, hairless and young). In turn, some, both in and out of the chubby community, criticize it as tending to exclude people who do not fit into their own standards of what a "real man" is.

Terminology Some terminology relating to the chubby community includes:

• chubby - a man with a big belly or overweight. Plural is chubbies.
• bear - a man with a full beard or van dyke, a hairy chest and body, masculine acting, usually older (or older looking), overweight or stocky (or possibly hyper-muscular), commonly found wearing flannel, leather, or blue jeans.
• chubette - a younger (or younger looking) version of a chubby, with a smaller frame.
• chaser - a term that refers to someone who is not necessarily a chubby, bear or chubette himself, but is sexually or romantically attracted to them (this term is used in various communities to describe an outsider who has sexual attraction to people within the community)
• Girth & Mirth - The clubs for chubbies are called Girth & Mirth clubs. (Example: "Girth & Mirth of New York (http://www.gandmny.com/)")

External link

• Bigger City (http://www.biggercity.com/): The webcommunity for chubs, chasers and bears.
• Bigger World (http://www.biggerworld.com/): THE biggest girth & mirth club in Europe. With loads of information, video's, links, and what more.
• Eric Verberne (http://www.ericverberne.nl/): A superchubby living in Amsterdam, Holland. He is one of the founders of the Dutch club Dikke Maatjes Girth & Mirth Netherlands (http://www.dikkemaatjes.nl/) in 1990.