Many ( but certainly not all) Black women and girls either want to gain up to or slim down to what is known in the Black community as “thick”. But what is thick anyway ? Who decides what is thick and what is not? The definition changes from coast to coast, state-to-state, as it seems like the southerner’s idea of “thick” is considerably larger than the northerner’s idea.

Speaking among friends  from several walks of life, I’ve come to discover that men and women have very different ideals of what “thick” is. What I and my other female friends consider thick is along the lines of these women:

Oddly enough when men are asked what is considered thick most are apt to describe these women

You see the conundrum right? Most women think of “thick” as a women who may be on the heavy side but still retains her hour-glass or pear-shaped figure. Most (but not all) men seem to see thick as a middle-sized woman with big-girl parts. Indeed many sistas who fit into men’s version of thick refer to themselves as such, but then again, so do the women who fit into the women’s version. So that brings us back to our original question; What the hell is thick?

In most societies it is the man who creates the standard of what is considered beautiful. Therefore, the Black community as a whole may follow the man’s idea of thick. Are women taking the word thick and making it their own? Possibly. Should we just take the focus off of women’s bodies completely ? That would be wonderful. Will that ever happen? Not in our lifetime.