Dimensions Online is a complement to Dimensions Magazine which is published bimonthly as a forum for those with a preference for the large figure and the people who attract them. It explains relationships, experiences, fat sex, and sexuality from the unique perspective of BBWs and their admirers and reports on issues of obesity, health, lifestyles, and media perceptions. Dimensions Magazine also provides adult entertainment including fiction and photo features with fat-related themes. Dimensions has hundreds of personal ads from big women and their admirers.
Dimensions Magazine is the name of a now defunct plus-size magazine, as well as a size acceptance community that grew out of the magazine's website. Dimensions Wide Angle Video Productions were sold through Dimensions. They were the original owner of the DimensionsGirls modeling network.
Contents
Dimensions Magazine Issue 41, art by Ned Sonntag
Dimensions Magazine evolved out of a civil-rights-group newsletter. NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) was the original size acceptance advocacy group in the United States aimed at big people. A FA (fat admirer) 'special interest group' (FA-SIG) was formed to discuss FA issues, and a black-and-white paper newsletter, also named FA-SIG, was started for that group. Several covers were drawn by Susan Mason. After a naming competition, the newsletter evolved into Dimensions Magazine.
Dimensions Magazine was published by Shardco Inc in Albany, New York, starting in 1984. It was edited by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer. The owner of Dimensions also owned and published Pen Computing Magazine. Most cartoon covers from 1985 onward were drawn by Ned Sonntag, and in 1989 the magazine introduced color pin-up covers of real models using glossy paper with Issue 42. The magazine featured aspiring models, some of whom became successful online in the years following. The publication of Dimensions Magazine ended in 2002 with Issue 88.
Website and Forum
Soon after the mainstream adoption of the internet, Dimensions created a website, posting columns and weight gain stories featured in the magazine as well as running competitions for aspiring models for their publication. Elsewhere, a woman known as BBW-QT created a website featuring personal ads for BBWs and FAs, which included a discussion board and a chatroom. The website's bandwidth charges soon became too much for BBW-QT to continue supporting, as the popularity of the forum and chatroom increased dramatically, so a deal was made for Dimensions to absorb the discussion board and chatroom, while BBW-QT closed her site. The new Dimensions community grew and by the late 1990's, Dimensions had become widely regarded as THE online site for fat admiration.
In 1997, the magazine became one of the first regular online magazines. The website began advertising and selling Dimensions Wide Angle Video Productions - soft-core pictorials that featured BBWs. Of these, most heavily promoted was The Feeding Fantasies of Betsy, which introduced feederism to many. They also started DimensionsGirls modeling network, which eventually became part of BigCuties.
The original publisher eventually retired from running the website and sold the whole enterprise in 2015 to a company that runs a number of community forums. Despite several failed attempts to monetize Dimensions, they continue to support it. Due to technical issues, the chat room eventually shut down. The discussion boards have continued to this day, and remain a popular place for discussion of BBW and FA issues.
IssuesRelated PagesExternal links
