They used to say 'big is beautiful' but in a world obsessed with dieting and cellulite, where every young woman's dream is to resemble a stick insect, we have simply gone from the sublime to the anorexic.

How strange that, according to a recent government survey, one in five of the population is now clinically obese. Fat people in society are often ridiculed and held personally responsible for their condition, so how does this affect those who are also gay or bisexual where thin is king?

I myself suffered from puppy fat, but I have always been unable to gain weight, despite eating all the wrong foods, such as cakes, sweets and sugary soft drinks. Trousers still fit me years after buying them and I have always bought off the peg. Far from despising those with a weight problem, I admire them.

In many cultures, even our own until the fashion magazines gripped our collective imagination, being large was associated with power. Henry VIII, the Tudor king, was considered a good king before the syphilis that eventually killed him clouded his judgement. Modern-day Polynesia still equates big with beautiful, as done West Indian culture, although the King of Tonga has been put on a diet.

Up till now, those who were admirers of the fuller figure have been frustrated in their quest for images of their ideal of beauty. Gay pornography is full of young men with washboard stomachs who have barely begun to shave. Real men, apart from fantasy types, who hang out regularly at the gym and have been defoliated, are noticeable by their absence. Cinema, however, has inadvertently catered for chubby chasers everywhere.

For instance, there is James Robertson Justice, who more than amply filled the role of Sir Lancelot Spratt in the 'Doctor' movies. Jimmy Edwards, the comic actor, whose moustaches and rotund frame graced the popular television series Whack-O! in the early 60's.

In the eighties, Bruce Robinson's brilliant directorial debut, Withnail and I, gave all chubby chasers a new sex symbol. The portly seducer Uncle Monty, Marwood's nemesis, played by that most under-rated of English actors Richard Griffiths. Despite the film making Richard E Grant a star, it was the portrayal of Uncle Monty who caught the audience's imagination, even securing the character a fanclub.

Last but, by no means, certainly not least is Simon Callow's character, Gareth, from the box-office sensation, Four Weddings and a Funeral.. If nothing else, it proves that British film, unlike its American counterpart, have no qualms about celebrating the mature, rotund and hirsute man in all his roly-poly glory.

Fantasy is fine, but what about the real I am? The prevailing attitude for many gay men is the belief that possessing a twenty-six inch waist, pumping iron and resembling a well-dressed beanpole is the route to health, happiness and humping.

Not all gay and bisexual men, however, have blindly accepted this narrow definition. AIDS in Africa is known as the Slim, referring to its wasting effects on the body, has marked a seachange towards body image within gay circles. Six-packs are out, potbellies are in.

Being a little plump has now become a plus as well as a plus size. Clubs have sprouted up catering for those of a fuller figure and their admirers, such as Bulk. Others such as Bearhug cater for the more hirsute amongst the chubbies, the global phenonemenon that is the Bear movement. It is finally cool to be outsize and loving it.

(c) Howard Watson 2000