Making the Cut

Supersized Sexy

I walked into Foxy Girls strip club around sunset with big expectations. I had landed myself a job shooting stills on a British documentary regarding deliberate extreme weight gain in the world of Super Size Big Beautiful Women.

Once a month, ladies of the BBW community are welcomed to take the stage at the club for free and keep the tips they earn without a house fee. On this particular Sunday, out-of-town BBW Conference attendees were welcomed to dance. Meet “A Darling BBW” from Detroit, an extremely friendly young lady who wore a smile better than her red sparkled wig.

I was surprised to find that one dancer had to be up in a few hours for her job as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. She also has a son and wasn’t too keen doing portraits in her skimpy outfit with others in a tourist location because children were nearby. Another dancer revealed to me that it was her first time stripping. I tried to envision her daily life back in her conservative hometown in Utah. The most shocking interaction I had was with a woman who had a very suggestive stage name and was absolutely wonderful during her portrait session. She also did a trick with a lollipop. I will never look at a sucker the same again.

I left 8 hours later in the middle of the night with a hefty amount of images and was more eager to edit than sleep. My experience was much more than I expected. It really was, well, big.