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By now, you should have already heard all about Queen Beyoncé being on the cover of the September issue of Vogue magazine, telling Clover Hope—Culture Editor of our sister site, Jezebel—her innermost thoughts on everything from giving birth to Sir and Rumi to her feelings on her post-pregnancy body.


In case you haven’t, my coworker Maiysha Kai did an excellent summary of the issue, saying “Beyoncé just made having a FUPA fashionable.”

Because yes, she did, hunty.

For those of you who may not know, the FUPA is the little pouch of belly fat that hangs just above the pubic area. Urban Dictionary has various explanations as to what the acronym stands for including “fat upper pussy area,” “fat upper pubic area,” and “fat upper penile area,” with the general consensus being it is all referring to the same low-hanging belly fat.


Although we usually see it used more in reference to women, men have them too; they just don’t receive as much scrutiny and criticism about them as women do.

In any case, I felt it in my soul when reading the Beyoncé article and coming across her saying this little tidbit:

To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it. I think it’s real. Whenever I’m ready to get a six-pack, I will go into beast zone and work my ass off until I have it. But right now, my little FUPA and I feel like we are meant to be.

The emphasis in that last sentence is mine.

It’s affirming to hear Beyoncé speak truth to what me and so many other women have been feeling about our own bodies for a long time. Many of us have given up feeling shame for that little fat pouch, and we let it live. We don’t try to suck it in and hide it in pictures anymore.


When I’m shopping online on Forever21 or Torrid or Lane Bryant, I’m seeing more and more models with their FUPAs showing. No one is hiding them anymore.

We are at a place where women are becoming more and more accepting of their natural bodies, and this is a good thing. We aren’t allowing the fashion industry, men, or anyone else tell us how and when we should be comfortable in our own skin.


The FUPA is meant to be loved and worshipped. In the artwork of Peter Paul Rubens all of the women were plump and curvy with FUPAs. They were considered beautiful.

Now that Beyoncé has come out and said she is OK with her FUPA, it will be interesting to see how many others will follow suit.


Either way, the message here is love your FUPA and love yourself.

You are beautiful just the way you are.