Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2277657
Kendall Dinniene
ABSTRACTSlasher film Criminally Insane might be understood as one that capitalizes upon and perhaps even further entrenches existing societal anti-fatness in mid-century America. Its fat protagonist, Ethel, wields a butcher knife against those who constrain her access to food or endanger her freedom, killing and even eating her victims. Audiences and film reviewers have thus far described Ethel’s behavior as violent resistance to “treatment” for her fatness at her own and others’ peril. However, this paper reveals that the film is far from straightforward in its approach to fatness. Using the work of Laura Mulvey and Susan Greenhalgh, I consider how Criminally Insane deploys and critiques the male and medical gazes, revealing their intertwined and co-constitutive work against Ethel’s body and autonomy. I contend that while it certainly deploys anti-fat tropes, Miller’s gory film also offers a robust analysis of patriarchal control and even briefly attempts to envision a world in which fat people, like Ethel, can truly be free.KEYWORDS: Fat liberationhorrorfilmfeminismmale gaze AcknowledgementSincere thanks to Dr. Samantha Pergadia whose generous mentorship made this paper possible.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsKendall DinnieneKendall Dinniene is a PhD Candidate in English at Southern Methodist University. Their work examines how American fiction variously affirms, complicates, and resists dominant notions of fatness, and reveals how these notions are intertwined with and produce ideas about race, gender, sexuality, health, (dis)ability, criminality, and national identity.
{"title":"“My heart’s fine as long as my stomach’s not empty”: patriarchal horror, women’s excess, and fat liberation in <i>Criminally Insane</i>","authors":"Kendall Dinniene","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2277657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2277657","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTSlasher film Criminally Insane might be understood as one that capitalizes upon and perhaps even further entrenches existing societal anti-fatness in mid-century America. Its fat protagonist, Ethel, wields a butcher knife against those who constrain her access to food or endanger her freedom, killing and even eating her victims. Audiences and film reviewers have thus far described Ethel’s behavior as violent resistance to “treatment” for her fatness at her own and others’ peril. However, this paper reveals that the film is far from straightforward in its approach to fatness. Using the work of Laura Mulvey and Susan Greenhalgh, I consider how Criminally Insane deploys and critiques the male and medical gazes, revealing their intertwined and co-constitutive work against Ethel’s body and autonomy. I contend that while it certainly deploys anti-fat tropes, Miller’s gory film also offers a robust analysis of patriarchal control and even briefly attempts to envision a world in which fat people, like Ethel, can truly be free.KEYWORDS: Fat liberationhorrorfilmfeminismmale gaze AcknowledgementSincere thanks to Dr. Samantha Pergadia whose generous mentorship made this paper possible.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsKendall DinnieneKendall Dinniene is a PhD Candidate in English at Southern Methodist University. Their work examines how American fiction variously affirms, complicates, and resists dominant notions of fatness, and reveals how these notions are intertwined with and produce ideas about race, gender, sexuality, health, (dis)ability, criminality, and national identity.","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"161 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135371934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-17DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2268326
Eve-Riina Hyrkäs, Mikko Myllykangas
By the twenty-first century, obesity has become a focus of medical concern, moralizing statements, and most significantly, alarmist rhetoric. As a case in point, the Finnish people were in danger to turn into a fat nation already in the early 1950s – or that was the claim of the anti-fat activists organized as the Association to Combat Obesity [ACO] (Liikalihavuuden vastustamisyhdistys). Founded in 1950, the ACO’s aim was principally educational. However, the association did much more than spread ostensibly unbiased information – in fact, we argue that they became opinion leaders at the forefront of fat-shaming. In this article, we examine the interconnectedness of health education and fat-shaming in postwar Finland. As the ACO was started by the initiative of one man, the attack on fat seemed personal. The ACO’s anti-fat activism also left a controversial legacy. The history of the ACO hence shows how the stigmatization of fat people and personal reactions to it change over time to reflect prevailing cultural climates and social and political environments.
{"title":"War on fat in postwar Finland: A history of fat-shaming","authors":"Eve-Riina Hyrkäs, Mikko Myllykangas","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2268326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2268326","url":null,"abstract":"By the twenty-first century, obesity has become a focus of medical concern, moralizing statements, and most significantly, alarmist rhetoric. As a case in point, the Finnish people were in danger to turn into a fat nation already in the early 1950s – or that was the claim of the anti-fat activists organized as the Association to Combat Obesity [ACO] (Liikalihavuuden vastustamisyhdistys). Founded in 1950, the ACO’s aim was principally educational. However, the association did much more than spread ostensibly unbiased information – in fact, we argue that they became opinion leaders at the forefront of fat-shaming. In this article, we examine the interconnectedness of health education and fat-shaming in postwar Finland. As the ACO was started by the initiative of one man, the attack on fat seemed personal. The ACO’s anti-fat activism also left a controversial legacy. The history of the ACO hence shows how the stigmatization of fat people and personal reactions to it change over time to reflect prevailing cultural climates and social and political environments.","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"205 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135995297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-02DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2265529
Niya Pickett Miller
ABSTRACTWatch Out For The Big Grrrls, Lizzo’s successful extension into reality television content, showcases the rhetorical power of fat-flaunting. This close textual analysis of the series finds that Lizzo enacts emancipatory rhetoric to impart her method of strategic fat-flaunting to aspiring fat women dancers. Self-love and vulnerability emerge as critical elements required for delivering the hopeful Big Grrrls from the burdens of fat-hate and maintaining Lizzo’s buoyancy above her critics.KEYWORDS: Fat positivityreality televisionfat-flauntingemancipatory rhetoricsLizzo Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. During the writing of this manuscript, Associated Press (Citation2023) reported that three former backup dancers – Ariana Davis, Crystal Williams (also cast members of WOftBG), and Noelle Rodriguez – filed a lawsuit against Lizzo for allegedly fat shaming, creating a hostile work environment, and sexually harassing them. Lizzo condemned the allegations via a written message on her Instagram page and is currently experiencing heightened public scrutiny and fallout.Additional informationNotes on contributorsNiya Pickett MillerNiya Pickett Miller is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She teaches communication studies courses related to race, gender, and culture in the Department of Communication and Media. Her scholarly work centers on visual and rhetorical criticism of marginal identities and otherness in popular culture and media.
{"title":"(Re)presenting <i>The Big Grrrls</i>","authors":"Niya Pickett Miller","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2265529","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2265529","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTWatch Out For The Big Grrrls, Lizzo’s successful extension into reality television content, showcases the rhetorical power of fat-flaunting. This close textual analysis of the series finds that Lizzo enacts emancipatory rhetoric to impart her method of strategic fat-flaunting to aspiring fat women dancers. Self-love and vulnerability emerge as critical elements required for delivering the hopeful Big Grrrls from the burdens of fat-hate and maintaining Lizzo’s buoyancy above her critics.KEYWORDS: Fat positivityreality televisionfat-flauntingemancipatory rhetoricsLizzo Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. During the writing of this manuscript, Associated Press (Citation2023) reported that three former backup dancers – Ariana Davis, Crystal Williams (also cast members of WOftBG), and Noelle Rodriguez – filed a lawsuit against Lizzo for allegedly fat shaming, creating a hostile work environment, and sexually harassing them. Lizzo condemned the allegations via a written message on her Instagram page and is currently experiencing heightened public scrutiny and fallout.Additional informationNotes on contributorsNiya Pickett MillerNiya Pickett Miller is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She teaches communication studies courses related to race, gender, and culture in the Department of Communication and Media. Her scholarly work centers on visual and rhetorical criticism of marginal identities and otherness in popular culture and media.","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135828224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-28DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2247878
Natalie C. Boero
{"title":"Fat talk: parenting in the age of diet culture","authors":"Natalie C. Boero","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2247878","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2247878","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88581310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-16DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2248358
K. Kemmerer
{"title":"The Contemporary Reader of Gender and Fat Studies","authors":"K. Kemmerer","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2248358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2248358","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"2014 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73812383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-16DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2248364
Erin D. Basinger, Margaret M. Quinlan, Audrey M. Curry
ABSTRACT Weight stigma contributes to healthcare-related stress and can make pregnancy difficult for people in larger bodies who are frequently denied reproductive healthcare treatment or receive poor quality care. Support from similar others – those who have experienced the same stressor – is particularly useful for navigating these challenges. Our goal in this study was to solicit advice from fat individuals who have tried to conceive, been pregnant, or had a baby. Survey responses from 150 people included 225 units of advice. We used content analysis to code the advice into 10 types that fell under three main categories: intrapersonal advice, communication advice, and social support advice. The two most prevalent pieces of advice were to trust yourself and your body (n = 57) and find an inclusive provider (n = 56). Based on our results, we suggest finding fat-affirming and inclusive providers, seeking nourishment rather than a restrictive diet, engaging in joyful movement, and connecting with a community of other fat individuals.
{"title":"“Trust yourself and your body”: advice from fat individuals on how to navigate fat fertility, pregnancy, and birth","authors":"Erin D. Basinger, Margaret M. Quinlan, Audrey M. Curry","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2248364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2248364","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Weight stigma contributes to healthcare-related stress and can make pregnancy difficult for people in larger bodies who are frequently denied reproductive healthcare treatment or receive poor quality care. Support from similar others – those who have experienced the same stressor – is particularly useful for navigating these challenges. Our goal in this study was to solicit advice from fat individuals who have tried to conceive, been pregnant, or had a baby. Survey responses from 150 people included 225 units of advice. We used content analysis to code the advice into 10 types that fell under three main categories: intrapersonal advice, communication advice, and social support advice. The two most prevalent pieces of advice were to trust yourself and your body (n = 57) and find an inclusive provider (n = 56). Based on our results, we suggest finding fat-affirming and inclusive providers, seeking nourishment rather than a restrictive diet, engaging in joyful movement, and connecting with a community of other fat individuals.","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80537881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-04DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2243065
M. Bessey
{"title":"Review of Health Apps, Genetic Diets and Superfoods: When Biopolitics Meets Neoliberalism","authors":"M. Bessey","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2243065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2243065","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84235456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2229599
Ni’Shele Jackson
{"title":"It’s always been ours: rewriting the story of Black women’s bodies","authors":"Ni’Shele Jackson","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2229599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2229599","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87351736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-16DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2023.2232624
J. Mobley
{"title":"Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity","authors":"J. Mobley","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2023.2232624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2023.2232624","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76717629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2022.2144889
Bek Orr
ABSTRACT The fat body and the transgender body are expected to always be in a state of becoming. For fat bodies, becoming less fat, for transgender bodies, becoming more “congruent.” To be fat and/or transgender means coming into constant confrontation with social and cultural expectations about the fat and (trans)gendered body. It means navigating a medical system that considers one a problem to be solved with a careful and pre-determined set of solutions. It means diminished autonomy and little agency. Fat bodies and transgender bodies are often met with solutions based on gatekeeping versus informed consent. Fat bodies and trans bodies are often unwelcome and even made invisible in public spaces. When there are no chairs to fit fat bodies, and no bathrooms to include trans bodies, those bodies are erased, and the gender binary and body ideal reified. When transgender studies excludes discussion and acknowledgment of fat bodies and when fat studies excludes transgender bodies from their analysis or employs gender as a binary characteristic, fat trans bodies are disappeared, raising the question, how might thinking intersectionally reinvigorate both fields? This auto ethnographic exploration of navigating social and medical structures as a fat, trans/non-binary individual seeks to underscore the many commonalities inherent in anti-fat and (trans)gender oppression, and to highlight the ways these oppressions intersect to create unique barriers for fat, trans folks.
{"title":"Trans/fat: an autoethnographic exploration of becoming at the intersection of trans and fat","authors":"Bek Orr","doi":"10.1080/21604851.2022.2144889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2022.2144889","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The fat body and the transgender body are expected to always be in a state of becoming. For fat bodies, becoming less fat, for transgender bodies, becoming more “congruent.” To be fat and/or transgender means coming into constant confrontation with social and cultural expectations about the fat and (trans)gendered body. It means navigating a medical system that considers one a problem to be solved with a careful and pre-determined set of solutions. It means diminished autonomy and little agency. Fat bodies and transgender bodies are often met with solutions based on gatekeeping versus informed consent. Fat bodies and trans bodies are often unwelcome and even made invisible in public spaces. When there are no chairs to fit fat bodies, and no bathrooms to include trans bodies, those bodies are erased, and the gender binary and body ideal reified. When transgender studies excludes discussion and acknowledgment of fat bodies and when fat studies excludes transgender bodies from their analysis or employs gender as a binary characteristic, fat trans bodies are disappeared, raising the question, how might thinking intersectionally reinvigorate both fields? This auto ethnographic exploration of navigating social and medical structures as a fat, trans/non-binary individual seeks to underscore the many commonalities inherent in anti-fat and (trans)gender oppression, and to highlight the ways these oppressions intersect to create unique barriers for fat, trans folks.","PeriodicalId":37967,"journal":{"name":"Fat Studies-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society","volume":"89 1","pages":"384 - 400"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74051042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：