Plus-Sized Nightclubs: Rattle and Rolls?
The name says it all - Club Bounce. And Long Beach, California folks looking to shake and rattle their rolls think that a dance club for the obese is just what doctor ordered -- for their social lives at least.
Long unable to get past the velvet ropes at traditional nightclubs because of their weight, Californians with a few (or even more than a few) extra pounds have no trouble getting in at Club Bounce. That's because the club was created to serve a specific clientele: the overweight and obese.
Club-goer Vanessa Gray is a fan of the concept. She says in an interview:
"When you're not what they consider ideal, you know, and you're out there trying to get your dance on at those other places, you get the looks, the stares. But not here. Everything's accepted here."
That acceptance isn't easy to come by. A 2008 study out of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that overweight and obese people feel more discriminated against than they did 10 years ago, despite the fact that obesity rates themselves are climbing.
Obesity causes problems for people in the workplace (and can also affect their pay), and in the U.K., people are apparently getting beat up ... just for being fat.
Club Bounce wants to give its patrons the gift of forgetting all that fattism, if only for a night. Says fat activist Lynn McAfe:
"It's nice to have a place to go where you can do a little flirting and maybe bring your thin sister or somebody from work who isn't fat, and they'll be in your world for awhile. That's an amazing experience for a lot of people who aren't fat, to spend a day or night in a world of fat people."
It's hard to believe that it's an "amazing experience" for thin people to interact with a group of overweight adults. On a daily basis, the people I meet and deal with come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, there is no "us" and "them." Then again, I live in the American Midwest where we'll be wearing parkas from now until April and there are few velvet ropes to restrict access. Maybe in an environment where looks are so important, it really does feel like living in a different world.
Club Bounce seems like a weird concept -- do we really need a whole separate club for the obese? But I like it for one reason: Part of the process of learning how to take care of yourself is feeling good about yourself. And if it takes a place like Club Bounce to get you into your dancing shoes to have some fun with your friends, then do it. That boost in self-confidence might be just what it takes to start making the small necessary changes that lead to fitness: Taking the stairs, skipping the free doughnuts at the office, or taking a walk after work.
Do you think a nightclub for the obese is a good idea?
Yes, I think it is a GREAT idea.
When I was heavy, it was incredibly hard to go out and have a good time. I was denied entry at clubs in NYC and LA when I was traveling on business just because I was heavy. When I did get into others, I was stared at, laughed at, and pointed at just for ordering a drink at the bar. Kills the party mood really quickly.
Everyone should be able to go out and have a good time without being ridiculed.
I can't wait until the next time I am anywhere close to Long Beach--I plan to stop in.
ReplyLose 100 lbs fatty and then we'll let you into our trendy club!
ReplyAre you trying to be ironic here or calling Chloe "fatty"?
ReplyRUDE ArrowSmith.... remember you were chiding others about this. Also, the trendy nightclubs in southern CA are filled with a lot of arrogant, self absorbed people that would not lift a hand to help others. FAKE people in many of them!
ReplyI was being doubly ironic, but nobody got the twist.
ReplyI agree Chloe, I actually never went out when I was overweight for those reasons. But what saddens me is how much I really wanted to be liked by *those* people.
Now I think they are a bunch of narcissitic, arrogant, insecure, insensitive and shallow jerks who lack empathy and human kindness - and I really don't care to be around them. Ironic, really.
ReplyAll that "lack of human kindness" was really for your own good. I'm sure the stinging remarks of "fatty mcFatty" helped spur you on to lose the weight!
ReplyNothing like a barrage of insults to spur change. :)
ReplyExactly! It always works for me!
ReplyIs this really considered a way to stop discrimination against overweight people? I feel that this would just lead to an increase in the overweight population barricading themselves into this world where being overweight is the norm. My question is, why should overweight people have to do this in the first place? Is it okay to convince people that they need to be ashamed of their bodies and have to go to a special nightclub where they won't be laughed at? There needs to be a movement to create reform in nightclubs to encompass all different demographics, rather than heavier people having to seek refuge in another setting. Why do overweight people need to go to a separate nightclub from people who are not overweight. To me, this just seems like another form of discrimination. Allowing this is like saying that the supreme court decision in Brown v. Board of Education was fair. Although this is obviously less severe, validating the creation of a separate nightclub for overweight people is alright as long as it is equal doesn't seem good enough to me. It is American society that needs to begin catering to a wider population.
ReplyI think it's a great idea. Dancing is so much fun that everybody should be able to do it, wherever and however they like.
ReplyHmm. I guess I don't "get" this because I don't live in California or New York or any of the other really trendy places. Just tell all the people that feel rejected for being fat at those nightclubs to come to a nightclub in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where at least half of the clubbers are either overweight or obese. We definitely don't discriminate around here!
ReplyI would love for a club like this to come near me. I have been overweight my whole life and I hate going out because people look at me. I'm not hindered by my body at all, I do yoga and even introduced some of my "thin" friends to it. Still, people stare at me when I go out like I'm some kind of eating machine. I'm a human with feelings and I would love to be completely accepted.
ReplyOn my wedding day, my new husband and I took our tiny (2 person) guest list to Olive Garden. The entire time I was eating my lunch a semi-overweight lady gaped at me. I, feeling very self confident, stared right back. She called over the manager and very loudly said that I was interrupting her dining by staring and the manager asked us to leave. How silly!
OK, I am a bit surprised by the whole concept of a night club for overweight and obese people. But, why not! Dancing is great fun and great exercise. If overweight people have been reluctant to go out and dance then that's great that these clubs are out there.
ReplyVery cool.
I mean, I don't get wanting to go to nightclubs period, never been my scene - but people getting out to have fun, regardless of size, that's awesome.
Replyno way, fat people and sweaty and disgusting and should be banned and sent to a remote island without food until they lose enough weight to be welcome back into normal society
ReplyExactly. I couldn't agree more.
Replysave the EMTs for thin people who pass out from too much drinking, if you enter too many fatsos into a dance-off emergency services will be overloaded with heart attacks.
Replysure, if you are looking for a fast and easy way to kill off all the fat people, cram them in a room and make them dance until they can't dance no more!
Replyanything to make my girlfriend skinnier!
ReplySoungs great, as long as the bouncers turn away all the good looking and in-shape people who try to get in.
Replyhave you seen my hair gel?
ReplyAs a 120 pound girl at 5'5 even I am told I am fat by many people, I've been denied entry into clubs too(Surprise! believe it or not!) and lived a life plagued by the thought of "perhaps if I was thinner I wouldn't be treated in such a way". It's not just obese people anymore, it's anyone who doesn't fit the size 0 mold that is so common place now. People assume because I am thin that there is no way I've encountered criticism or been bullied my whole life. Well I have. And you know, something has to give when healthily thin is considered "fat". I think not only is this nightclub thing a great idea and a way to show people we are all humans that want to have fun without the bane of discrimination, but also it serves as a stepping stone for good agenda.
ReplyMy only question is, can all shapes and sizes come in or is it just for thicker people? I hope they don't play the discrimination game too.