In this Book

  • The Fat Studies Reader
  • Book
  • Esther Rothblum, Sondra Solovay, Marilyn Wann
  • 2009
  • Published by: NYU Press
summary

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.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-viii
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  1. Foreword: Fat Studies: An Invitation to Revolution
  2. pp. xi-xxv
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. p. xxvii
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  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 1-7
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  1. Part I: What Is Fat Studies? The Social and Historical Construction of Fatness
  2. p. 9
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  1. 1. The Inner Corset: A Brief History of Fat in the United States
  2. pp. 11-14
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  1. 2. Fattening Queer History: Where Does Fat History Go from Here?
  2. pp. 15-22
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  1. Part II: Fat Studies in Health and Medicine
  2. p. 23
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  1. 3. Does Social Class Explain the Connection Between Weight and Health?
  2. pp. 25-36
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  1. 4. Is “Permanent Weight Loss” an Oxymoron? The Statistics on Weight Loss and the National Weight Control Registry
  2. pp. 37-40
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  1. 5. What Is “Health at Every Size”?
  2. pp. 41-53
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  1. 6. Widening the Dialogue to Narrow the Gap in Health Disparities: Approaches to Fat Black Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health Promotion
  2. pp. 54-64
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  1. 7. Quest for a Cause: The Fat Gene, the Gay Gene, and the New Eugenics
  2. pp. 65-74
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  1. 8. Prescription for Harm: Diet Industry Influence, Public Health Policy, and the “Obesity Epidemic”
  2. pp. 75-87
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  1. 9. Public Fat: Canadian Provincial Governments and Fat on the Web
  2. pp. 88-96
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  1. 10. That Remains to Be Said: Disappeared Feminist Discourses on Fat in Dietetic Theory and Practice
  2. pp. 97-105
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  1. 11. Fatness (In)visible: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and the Rhetoric of Normative Femininity
  2. pp. 106-109
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  1. Part III: Fatness as Social Inequality
  2. pp. 111-112
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  1. 12. Fat Kids, Working Moms, and the “Epidemic of Obesity: ”Race, Class, and Mother Blame
  2. pp. 113-119
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  1. 13. Fat Youth as Common Targets for Bullying
  2. pp. 120-126
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  1. 14. Bon Bon Fatty Girl: A Qualitative Exploration of Weight Bias in Singapore
  2. pp. 127-138
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  1. 15. Part-Time Fatso
  2. pp. 139-142
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  1. 16. Double Stigma: Fat Men and Their Male Admirers
  2. pp. 143-150
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  1. 17. The Shape of Abuse: Fat Oppression as a Form of Violence Against Women
  2. pp. 151-157
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  1. 18. Fat Women as “Easy Targets”: Achieving Masculinity Through Hogging
  2. pp. 158-166
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  1. 19. No Apology: Shared Struggles in Fat and Transgender Law
  2. pp. 167-175
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  1. 20. Access to the Sky: Airplane Seats and Fat Bodies as Contested Spaces
  2. pp. 176-186
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  1. 21. Neoliberalism and the Constitution of Contemporary Bodies
  2. pp. 187-196
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  1. 22. Sitting Pretty: Fat Bodies, Classroom Desks, and Academic Excess
  2. pp. 197-204
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  1. 23. Stigma Threat and the Fat Professor: Reducing Student Prejudice in the Classroom
  2. pp. 205-212
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  1. 24. Fat Stories in the Classroom: What and How Are They Teaching About Us?
  2. pp. 213-220
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  1. Part IV: Size-ism in Popular Culture and Literature
  2. p. 221
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  1. 25. Fat Girls and Size Queens: Alternative Publications and the Visualizing of Fat and Queer Eroto-politics in Contemporary American Culture
  2. pp. 223-230
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  1. 26. Fat Girls Need Fiction
  2. pp. 231-234
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  1. 27. Fat Heroines in Chick-Lit: Gateway to Acceptance in the Mainstream?
  2. pp. 235-240
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  1. 28. The Fat of the (Border)land: Food, Flesh, and Hispanic Masculinity in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop
  2. pp. 241-248
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  1. 29. Placing Fat Women on Center Stage
  2. pp. 249-255
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  1. 30. “The White Man’s Burden”: Female Sexuality, Tourist Postcards, and the Place of the Fat Woman in Early 20th-Century U.S. Culture
  2. pp. 256-262
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  1. 31. The Roseanne Benedict Arnolds: How Fat Women Are Betrayed by Their Celebrity Icons
  2. pp. 263-270
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  1. 32. Jiggle in My Walk: The Iconic Power of the “Big Butt” in American Pop Culture
  2. pp. 271-279
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  1. 33. Seeing Through the Layers: Fat Suits and Thin Bodies in The Nutty Professor and Shallow Hal
  2. pp. 280-288
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  1. 34. Controlling the Body: Media Representations, Body Size, and Self-Discipline
  2. pp. 289-296
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  1. Part V: Embodying and Embracing Fatness
  2. p. 297
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  1. 35. “I’m Allowed to Be a Sexual Being”: The Distinctive Social Conditions of the Fat Burlesque Stage
  2. pp. 299-304
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  1. 36. Embodying Fat Liberation
  2. pp. 305-311
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  1. 37. Not Jane Fonda: Aerobics for Fat Women Only
  2. pp. 312-319
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  1. 38. Exorcising the Exercise Myth: Creating Women of Substance
  2. pp. 320-324
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  1. Part VI: Starting the Revolution
  2. pp. 325-326
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  1. 39. Maybe It Should Be Called Fat American Studies
  2. pp. 327-333
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  1. 40. Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? Fat Studies and Political Activism
  2. pp. 334-340
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  1. Appendix A: Fat Liberation Manifesto, November 1973
  2. pp. 341-342
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  1. Appendix B: Legal Briefs
  2. pp. 343-350
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  1. About the Contributors
  2. pp. 351-357
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 359-365
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