Description
Book SynopsisIt is okay to be fat. This is the basic premise of fat activism, a social movement that has existed in Canada since the 1970s. Being Fat focuses on the earliest strands of the movement, covering the last decades of the twentieth century. The book explores how fat activists wrestled with feminist issues of the era, including femininity, sexuality, and health.
Showcasing the earliest efforts of fat activists in Canada, such as the growth of social initiatives for fat women only, Being Fat helps us recognize the long reach of second-wave feminism and how it shaped activists’ approaches to everyday experiences like shopping, exercise, and going to the doctor.
Trade Review"Being Fat is an important text that provides a historical and political grounding of fat women organizations in Canada. […] This scholarship is imperative to recognizing and understanding how the fat liberation movement began and provides insight to contemporary forms of resistance." -- Nicholas Villarreal, San Diego State University *
Fat Studies *
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Introduction: Fat Women Are Not Few 1. FIFI: Feminist Approaches to Being Fat 2. Between Women: Fat Acceptance Organizations 3. “If Only You’d Lose Weight...”: Femininity, Sexuality, and Fat Activism 4. Dr Fullovitt, MD: Fat Women’s Experiences with Doctors and Dieting 5. “Let Me Hear Your Body Talk”: Aerobics for Fat Women Only 6. Bodies in Fashion: Buying and Selling Plus-Size Clothing Conclusion: When We Rise the Earth Will Shake Appendix A: Research Methods Appendix B: Detailed List of Research Participants Notes Bibliography Index
