The Contemporary Reader of Gender and Fat Studies is a key reference work in contemporary scholarship situated at the intersection between Gender and Fat Studies, charting the connections and tensions between these two fields.
Comprising over 20 chapters from a range of diverse and international contributors, the Reader is structured around the following key themes: theorizing gender and fat; narrating gender and fat; historicizing gender and fat; institutions and public policy; health and medicine; popular culture and media; and resistance. It is an intersectional collection, highlighting the ways that "gender" and "fat" always exist in connection with multiple other structures, forms of oppression, and identities, including race, ethnicity, sexualities, age, nationalities, disabilities, religion, and class.
The Contemporary Reader of Gender and Fat Studies is essential reading for scholars and advanced students in Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, Sociology, Body Studies, Cultural Studies, Psychology, and Health.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Author(s): Amy Erdman Farrell (editor)
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 380
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Part I Introduction
1 Connecting Gender and Fat: Feminism, Intersectionality, and Stigma
The Essays
Using This Volume
Bibliography
Part II Discourses of Gender and Fat
2 Undesirably Different: Hyper(in)visibility and the Gendered Fat Body
The Spectrum of Visibility and the Phenomenon of Hyper(in)visibility
Fat, Gender, and Hyper(in)visibility
Cisgender Women
Cisgender Men
Queer People
Conclusion
References
3 Gendered Fat Bodies as Neoliberal Bodies
The Obesity Epidemic Discourse as a Neoliberal Discourse
Gender and Neoliberal Care for the Self
Neoliberal Health, Gender, and Fatness
Consequences of Neoliberal Body Norms
Note
References
4 To Have and Not to Hold: Queering Fatness
Fatness and Gender
Queering Fat Scholarship: The Beginning
Branches
Here, Queer, and FAT: Origins
Fatshion
Limitations and The Future
Notes
Bibliography
5 Antiblackness, Gender, and Fat
The (Il)logics and Incoherence of Gender
Gender and the Black Fat
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Part III Narrating Gender and Fat
6 Embodied Narration
Fat, Gender, and Their Myriad Intersections
Trans and Non-Binary Fat Appearances
Fashions and Expectations
Claiming Spacious and Compassionate Narratives Based On Already Traveled Terrain
References
7 Fat Stories
Bibliography
Part IV Historicizing Fatness
8 The Politics of Fat and Gender in the Ancient World
Must Ancient Female Figurines Always Be About Fertility?
Can a Fat Man Be a Good Leader?
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
9 Historicizing Black Women’s Anti-Fatness
Black Women, History, and Fat Studies
“Warning! Fat Is Dangerous!”: Black Women’s Citizenship, Racial Pride, and Self-Discipline
Ambivalent Approaches to Black Women’s Anti-Fatness
Bibliography
Part V Gender and Fat in Institutions and Public Policy
10 Public Policy and the Repercussions of Fat Stigma On Women and Children
Embodying the Future: The “War On Obesity” and Pregnant Bodies
Weighting to Conceive: BMI, IVF, and Complications
Mother Blame: Your Child Is Your Problem (And Everyone Else’s)
Ruling On Appropriate Parenting: Courts and Fat Children
Cut It Out!: Fat Children, Bullying, and Bariatric Surgeries
All Women Are Being Drafted Into the “War Against Obesity”
Reflecting Back On Moving Forward
Notes
Bibliography
11 Histories of Excess: Overlaps Between Anti-Fat and Anti-Latina Public Discourse
Excessive M(other)hood and Saviorhood
Mother Monster and Endangering the Nation-State
Deviant Femininity, Undesirability, and Immigration Law and Policy
References
12 Fatness, Gender, and Academic Achievement in Secondary and Postsecondary Education
An Overview of the Literature
Discussion
The Hidden Curriculum
Limitations of Existing Research
Conclusion
Note
References
Part VI Gender and Fat in Health and Medicine
13 Eating Disorders, Gender, and Fat: Theorizing the Fat Body in Feminist Theories of Eating Disorders
Feminist Discourse in Eating Disorders
The Current Chapter
Tension 1
Fat Acceptance as Integral to Vs. Adjunctive to Feminist Approaches to Eating Disorders
Tension 2
Anti-Fat Messaging as Health Promotion Or as a Trigger for Eating Disorders
Tension 3
The Need for Vs. Harm in Categorizing, Diagnosing, and Pathologizing Eating Problems
Tension 4
Eating Disorders in Non-Western Cultures Vs. Centering White Western Experiences
Tension 5
Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia Sites as Spaces of Resistance Vs. Subjugation
Tension 6
Body Dysmorphia Vs. Gender Dysphoria and Other Challenges Facing Trans Eating Disorder Patients
Conclusion: Fattening Feminist Discourses On Eating Disorders
Notes
References
14 Immovable Subjects, Unstoppable Forces: Bariatric Surgery, Gender, and the Body
What Is Bariatric Surgery?
How Did We Get Here?
Social Attitudes Regarding Bariatric Surgery
“The Apotheosis of Fat Hatred:” Bariatric Surgery as Fat Antagonism
Self/Control: Embodiment, Agency, and Bariatric Surgery
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
15 Gender, Fat, and “Reproductive” Health Care: Negotiating Fat Pregnancy in the Context of Eugenics
A Word On Language
Understanding Stigma in Reproductive Health Care
The Role of Risk in Antifat Stigma
Soft Eugenics
Patient Experiences
Discouragement Through Risk Talk
Discouragement Through “Care”
Begrudging Care
Conclusion: Recommendations for Change
References
Part VII Gender and Fat in Popular Culture and Media
16 Sexy, Docile Bodies: The Objectification and Paternalistic Management of Plus-Size Models
Maybe She’s Born With It. Maybe It’s …
Just Do It (With Your Agent’s Permission)
Got Sexiness?
Notes
References
17 Big-Gay Men Entering the Twenty-First Century: Global Perspectives On Fat-Affirming Subcultures and Imagery
The Girth-&-Mirth Subculture
The Bear Subculture
The Gaining Subculture
Big-Gay Men’s Visual Culture: Art, Performance, Digital Media, Fashion, and Pornography
Art
Performance
Digital Media
Fashion
Pornography
Future Research Directions
Outside U.S. Borders
Same-Gender-Loving Big Men of Color
Fat/Femme/Brown and Feeling Down
Conclusion: Encouraging Fatness as a Form of Protest
References
18 From Hattie McDaniel to Queen Latifah: Examining a New Mammy and Other Fat Black Women Representations in Contemporary Media
Why Fat Black Women?
Depictions of Black Women in Popular Culture
Mammy Archetype—The Self-Sacrificer
Sapphire Archetype—The Hypercritical One
Jezebel Archetype—The Seductive Succubus
Ask Black Women On Instagram
At the Intersection of Fatness, Blackness, and Womanhood
Meet Dana Owens
Living Single
Khadijah James: A Recreation of the Mammy Trope
Meet Mo’Nique Hicks
Precious: Based On the Novel “Push” By Sapphire
Mary Jones: A Recreation of the Sapphire Trope
Meet Natasha Rothwell On HBO’s Insecure
Kelli Prenny: A Recreation of the Jezebel Trope
Art Created By Black Women for Black Audiences
Conclusion: Fat Black Women Matter On Television and in Real Life
Bibliography
Part VIII Gender, Fat, and Resistance
19 Coming Out as Fat
Fat Stigma
Is There a Closet for Fat People?
Collective Fat Identity
Conclusion
Bibliography
20 Fat Air
Notes
21 Belle Di Faccia: Fat Activism in Italy
The So-Called “Curvy Revolution”
Fat Acceptance: How the Movement Has Been Communicated in Italy
Our Experience as Activists: Belle Di Faccia
Conclusion
Bibliography
22 “Your Belly Is a Heap of Wheat”: A Torah of Fat Liberation
Notes
References
23 Don’t Forget to Be Yourself
Part IX In Memoriam
24 Friend of Cat
Epilogue
Index
