Gainer

A man who is turned on by gaining weight, eating more and watching his belly grow, often with an encourager who loves to feed him.

A gainer is a man who gets turned on by putting on weight: eating more, watching his belly grow, feeling his clothes get tight. For him weight gain is not an accident or a side effect of a good life, it is the erotic point. His partner in the game is the encourager or feeder, the man who loves to see him grow, fills his plate, rubs his belly and cheers every new pound.

Gainers are not the same as chubs. A chub is simply a big guy, whatever he thinks about it. A gainer is into the process: the eating, the growing, the before and after. Some gainers are slim and dream about it, some are already big and want more, and some just like to play with the fantasy online and never gain a pound.

Where it comes from

The wider kink is called feederism, and researchers describe it as a subculture where people eroticize eating and weight gain, with feeders and feedees (or gainers) in complementary roles. Most studies have looked at straight couples, often with a woman gaining and a man feeding, but the community is more varied in gender and sexuality than that stereotype. Among gay men the word gainer took over, with encourager for the other role. When and where gainer first appeared in this sense is not documented in the sources we checked, so we will not guess.

Where the scene lives

Gainers found each other early on the internet, in forums, groups and fetish sites, and the scene still lives mostly online. It overlaps heavily with the bear and chub world: many encouragers are chasers, and many gainers have muscle bear or chub fantasies. There are also muscle gainers, who want to grow in size and strength as well as weight, and who blur the line with the gym bunny on a bulk.

The content is about bellies: measuring tapes, scales, food, belly rubs, tight shirts, "progress pics". It is one of the most visibly fetish corners of gay life, and also one of the most loving: a lot of it is about being adored for a body the rest of the world tells you to hide.

The health side

Researchers point out that feederism is often misread as coercion, while most people in it are consenting adults playing with fantasy and power. Still, real weight gain is real. A lot of weight brings real risks, from blood pressure and diabetes to joints and sleep, and gainers who go for big numbers do well to have a doctor who knows what they are doing and does not judge them. Fantasy is free; the body keeps the score.

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