The Fat Studies Reader
The Fat Studies Reader

Author: Esther Rothblum

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 081477640X

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Winner of the 2010 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology Winner of the 2010 Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women’s Studies from the Popular Culture Association A milestone anthology of fifty-three voices on the burgeoning scholarly movement—fat studies We have all seen the segments on television news shows: A fat person walking on the sidewalk, her face out of frame so she can't be identified, as some disconcerting findings about the "obesity epidemic" stalking the nation are read by a disembodied voice. And we have seen the movies—their obvious lack of large leading actors silently speaking volumes. From the government, health industry, diet industry, news media, and popular culture we hear that we should all be focused on our weight. But is this national obsession with weight and thinness good for us? Or is it just another form of prejudice—one with especially dire consequences for many already disenfranchised groups? For decades a growing cadre of scholars has been examining the role of body weight in society, critiquing the underlying assumptions, prejudices, and effects of how people perceive and relate to fatness. This burgeoning movement, known as fat studies, includes scholars from every field, as well as activists, artists, and intellectuals. The Fat Studies Reader is a milestone achievement, bringing together fifty-three diverse voices to explore a wide range of topics related to body weight. From the historical construction of fatness to public health policy, from job discrimination to social class disparities, from chick-lit to airline seats, this collection covers it all. Edited by two leaders in the field, The Fat Studies Reader is an invaluable resource that provides a historical overview of fat studies, an in-depth examination of the movement’s fundamental concerns, and an up-to-date look at its innovative research.

The Politics of Size
The Politics of Size

Author: Ragen Chastain

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-11-25

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 1440829500

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This book presents an unprecedented opportunity for people to hear from a simultaneously ostracized, ridiculed, and ignored group: fat Americans. Find out how the members of this very diverse group of people describe their actual lived experiences, quality of life, hopes and dreams, and demands. Our society is body-size obsessed. The result? An environment where "fat people" are consistently shunned and discussed disparagingly behind their backs. Although fat people typically bear the brunt of the institutionalized oppression around being oversized, pervasive closeminded attitudes about body size in America affect everyone of all sizes—from people who are shamed for being too thin to those whose lives revolve around the fear of becoming fat. This book talks about a topic that is important to all readers, regardless of their physical size, providing an anthology of first-person accounts of what it's like to be part of the fat-acceptance movement and on the front lines of activism in the "war on obesity." The Politics of Size: Perspectives from the Fat Acceptance Movement supplies a frank discussion of the issues surrounding being fat and the associated health concerns—both physical and mental—and reframes the discussion about obesity from a medical issue to a social one. The essays serve to correct misinformation about obesity and fat people that is commonly accepted by the general public, such as the idea that "fat" and "healthy" are mutually exclusive. Subject matter covered includes fat-friendly workplace policies; fat dating experiences; and the intersections of being fat and also a person of color, a person with disabilities, a transgender person, or a member of another sub-group of society.

Fearing the Black Body
Fearing the Black Body

Author: Sabrina Strings

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 1479886750

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Winner, 2020 Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award, given by the American Sociological Association Honorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor Black women are particularly stigmatized as “diseased” and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals—where fat bodies were once praised—showing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of “savagery” and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn’t about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.

“You Just Need to Lose Weight”
“You Just Need to Lose Weight”

Author: Aubrey Gordon

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2023-01-10

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0807006483

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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN INDIE BESTSELLER “One of the great thinkers of our generation . . . I feel fresher and smarter and happier for sitting down with her.”—Jameela Jamil, iWeigh Podcast The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive. In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them. As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat
What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

Author: Aubrey Gordon

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2020-11-17

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0807041300

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From the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people. Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people’s experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, “I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.” By sharing her experiences as well as those of others—from smaller fat to very fat people—she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant”; and in 48 states, it’s legal—even routine—to deny employment because of an applicant’s size. Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.

Fat Shame
Fat Shame

Author: Amy Erdman Farrell

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2011-05-02

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 0814727689

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A look at how fatness became a cultural stigma in the United States.

Female Bodies on the American Stage
Female Bodies on the American Stage

Author: J. Mobley

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-09-04

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1137428945

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The fat female body is a unique construction in American culture that has been understood in various ways during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Analyzing post-WWII stage and screen performances, Mobley argues that the fat actress's body signals myriad cultural assumptions and suggests new ways of reading the body in performance.