The Fat Studies Reader

An invaluable resource that provides an in-depth examination of the fat studies movement's fundamental concerns

Explores 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 provides an overview of fat studies, an examination of the movement's fundamental concerns, and a look at its research.

Acknowledgments x; Foreword: Fat Studies: An Invitation to Revolution 1; Marilyn Wann; Introduction 32; Sondra Solovay and Esther Rothblum; Part I. What Is Fat Studies? The Social and Historical Construction of Fatness; 1. The Inner Corset: A Brief History of Fat in the United States 48; Laura Fraser; 2. Fattening Queer History: Where Does Fat History Go from Here? 55; Elena Levy-Navarro; Part II. Fat Studies in Health and Medicine; 3. Does Social Class Explain the Connection between Weight and Health? 73; Paul Ernsberger; 4. Is "Permanent Weight Loss" an Oxymoron? The Statistics on Weight Loss and the National Weight Control Registry 98; Glenn Gaesser; 5. What Is "Health at Every Size"? 106; Deborah Burgard; 6. Widening the Dialogue to Narrow the Gap in Health Disparities: Approaches to Fat Black Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Health Promotion 126; Bianca D.M. Wilson; 7. Quest for a Cause: The Fat Gene, the Gay Gene, and the New Eugenics 146; Kathleen LeBesco; 8. Prescription for Harm: Diet Industry Influence, Public Health Policy and the "Obesity Epidemic" 163; Pat Lyons; 9. Public Fat: Canadian Provincial Governments and Fat on the Web 186; Laura Jennings; 10. That Remains to Be Said: Disappeared Feminist Discourses on Fat in Dietetic Theory and Practice 202; Lucy Aphramor and Jacqui Gingras; 11. Fatness (In)Visible: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Normative Femininity 218; Christina Fisanick; Part III. Fatness as Social Inequality; 12. Fat Kids, Working Moms, and the "Epidemic of Obesity": Race, Class, and Mother-Blame 228; Natalie Boero; 13. Fat Youth as Common Targets for Bullying 241; Jacqueline Weinstock and Michelle Krehbiel; 14. Bon Bon Fatty Girl: A Qualitative Exploration of Weight Bias in Singapore 254; Maho Isono, Patti Lou Watkins and Lee Ee Lian; 15. Part-Time Fatso 274; S. Bear Bergman; 16. Double Stigma: Fat Men and Their Male Admirers 279; Nathaniel C. Pyle and Michael I. Loewy; 17. The Shape of Abuse: Fat Oppression as a Form of Violence against Women 294; Tracy Royce; 18. Fat Women as "Easy Targets": Achieving Masculinity through Hogging 307; Ariane Prohaska and Jeannine Gailey; 19. No Apology: Shared Struggles in Fat and Transgender Law 322; Dylan Vade and Sondra Solovay; 20. Access to the Sky: Airplane Seats and Fat Bodies as Contested Spaces 338; Joyce L. Huff; 21. Neoliberalism and the Constitution of Contemporary Bodies 357; Julie Guthman; 22. Sitting Pretty: Fat Bodies, Classroom Desks, and Academic Excess 375; Ashley Hetrick and Derek Attig; 23. Stigma Threat and the Fat Professor: Reducing Student Prejudice in the Classroom 389; Elena Andrea Escalera; 24. Fat Stories in the Classroom: What Are They Saying about What Has Been Written about Us? 402; Susan Koppelman; Part IV. Size-ism in Popular Culture and Literature; 25. Fat Girls and Size Queens: Alternative Publications and the Visualizing of Fat and Queer Eroto-Politics in Contemporary American Culture 418; Stefanie Snider; 26. Fat Girls Need Fiction 428; Susan Stinson; 27. Fat Heroines in Chick-Lit: Gateway to Acceptance in the Mainstream? 435; Lara Frater; 28. The Fat of the (Border)land: Food, Flesh, and Hispanic Masculinity in Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop 445; Julia McCrossin; 29. Placing Fat Women on Center Stage 459; JuliaGrace Jester; 30. "The White Man's Burden": Female Sexuality, Tourist Postcards, and the Place of the Fat Woman in Early 20th-Century U.S. Culture 471; Amy Farrell; 31. The Roseanne Benedict Arnolds: How Fat Women Are Betrayed by Their Celebrity Icons 483; Beth Bernstein and Matilda St. John; 32. Jiggle in My Walk: The Iconic Power of the "Big Butt" in American Pop Culture 497; Wendy A. Burns-Ardolino; 33. Seeing through the Layers: Fat Suits and Thin Bodies in The Nutty Professor and Shallow Hal 513; Katharina Mendoza; 34. Controlling the Body: Media Representations, Body Size and Discipline 528; Dina Giovanelli and Stephen Ostertag; Part V. Embodying and Embracing Fatness; 35. "I'm Allowed to Be a Sexual Being": The Distinctive Social Conditions of the Fat Burlesque Stage 544; D. Lacy Asbill; 36. Embodying Fat Liberation 550; Heather McAllister; 37. Not Jane Fonda: Aerobics for Fat Women Only 555; Jenny Ellison; 38. Exorcising the Exercise Myth: Creating Women of Substance 566; Dana Schuster and Lisa Tealer; Part VI. Starting the Revolution; 39. Maybe It Should Be Called Fat American Studies 576; Charlotte Cooper; 40. Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? Fat Studies and Political Activism 589; Esther Rothblum, Pattie Thomas, Deborah Burgard, and Elana Dykewomon; Appendixes:Fat Liberation Manifesto, 1973 602; Judy Freespirit and Aldabaran; Legal Briefs 604; Notes 617; About the Contributors 622; Index