FEEDER

A feeder is a person in a relationship with a feedee . As the name suggests, the feeder provides the feedee with an abundant supply of food, either to encourage weight gain or simply for delight in the act of feeding.

A feeder is a person who enjoys another person's fat and weight gain either sexually or generally. Although many feeders enjoy encouraging their relationship partners to gain weight, it is not a requirement to encourage another person's weight gain to enjoy the fact the other person is gaining weight.

Feeder/feedee relationships appear to be uncommon, although some certainly do exist. The image of the "feeder" appears to be a common fantasy in the fat admirer (FA) community. Many FAs fantasize about taking part in a feeding relationship, but few attempt to realize this fantasy. The main difference between a feeder and a fat admirer is that feeders are more inclined towards appreciating weight gain, and sometimes inducing weight gain.

Feeder relationships are sometimes regarded as pathological, and are frequently discouraged by the mainstream fat acceptance community as unhealthy and fetishistic. Many feeders, who do not have a feedee or believe that actual feeding is dangerous and unhealthy are referred to as non-practicing feeders; they satisfy themselves by looking at weight-gain photos or reading weight-gain fiction. Advocates of feeding maintain that feeding relationships, if consensual, are perfectly healthy for both parties. Opponents of feederism claim that the causes behind feederism relate to issues of control and dependency, and possibily degradation.

In a heterosexual situation, the feeder helps or encourages the feedee to gain weight. The feedee is usually the woman since this sub-fetish is usually male dominated. In the homosexual situation, the encourager encourages the gainer to gain weight. In either situation, the goals and results are usually the same. Often times there is a set goal weight. The act of reaching the goal is also itself a fetish, resulting in sex. Feederism also tends to center around the pleasure of food and consuming large amounts of it. Such a situation is certainly not medically advisable. If not kept in check by natural or active means, doing this will result in the feedee eventually becoming too heavy to walk. At this point, the feedee is completely dependent on the feeder for food, water, and hygiene and the feeder is often cut off from family and friends. If the feeder becomes abusive, the feedee cannot leave the relationship due to their physical immobility. Most importantly, the weight at which someone is immobile is typically life-threatening. Despite the risks involved, when immobility is reached, it is often the penultimate fetish in the hierarchy and most pleasurable. However, most people are not willing to risk their lives and in such a case it is difficult to reach such a weight.

"Feedees" women are in very short supply, but the amount of men willing to participate in this fetish is inexhaustible, as evidenced by the number of Yahoo! Groups dedicated to the topic. The whole phenomenon is largely underground, but a new movie exposing the condition called Feed is scheduled for release in 2006; in which, an investigator tracks a man who force-feeds women to death.