When the research for this project concluded and I decided to write a book, rather than publish a... more When the research for this project concluded and I decided to write a book, rather than publish a series of journal articles, one of my goals was to give voice to the amazing women who shared their time and stories with me. As I listened to, read, and reread the transcripts of these interviews, the overarching theme that came through was the phenomenon of hyper(in)visibility. The women I interviewed talked about their identities, dieting histories, health, sexual and relationship experiences, and the way they are treated and perceived by the larger culture within the spectrum of visibility. They recounted instances where they felt they were made into a spectacle while shopping in the grocery store, at the gym, or in the doctor’s office. Some of the women told harrowing stories of near-death experiences because physicians failed to see past their body size, or they recounted instances where intimate partners took advantage of them because their needs were not viewed as “important,” while others described occasions where family members denigrated them, neglected them, and overlooked their pain and humiliation. But these women also made it clear that they are incredibly strong, resilient, and perseverant despite the predicament of hyper(in)visibility and sordid typecasts.
In this manuscript, the voices of women of size in North America and Finland indicate that there ... more In this manuscript, the voices of women of size in North America and Finland indicate that there is a shared experience of being fat. Based on cross-cultural analysis of our respective empirical findings, we argue that there is a shared Western fat lived experience that perpetuates a stigmatized gendered landscape of living with a fat body. The emergent themes tended to revolve around two similar contradictions—the phenomenon of hyper(in)visibility and a belief their fatness is a temporary or liminal state—both of which lead to an internalization of fat hatred. We argue that these findings stem from the tremendous stigma and mistreatment that both samples of women face in their daily lives. The present study contributes to the literature by addressing two research lacunas: 1) the lack of cross-cultural research in fat studies; and 2) the limited mainstream feminist research from the perspective of fat women.
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2016
Jeannine Gailey’s book The Hyper(in)Visible Fat Woman makes several distinct and useful contribut... more Jeannine Gailey’s book The Hyper(in)Visible Fat Woman makes several distinct and useful contributions to a wide range of literatures, including sociology, fat studies, and feminism. Though there is even more to be done with the data that Gailey has, her initial foray into its richness and depth is welcome for its deployment of an ‘‘ocular ethic’’ to turn scholarly attention to the lives of very fat women. Gailey argues that ‘‘magnifying’’ the ‘‘marginalized bodies’’ of fat women allows us to see that which has been hidden, and that magnifying their experiences through close attention will help us develop an understanding of these women’s lives. The book’s primary contribution is to point out the multiple sites of paradox in the lives of fat women and, in pointing them out, to coin the term ‘‘hyper(in)visibility.’’ Gailey persuasively demonstrates the multiple ways that women are both (hyper) visible— their bodies are closely regarded, objects of shame and humiliation—and (hyper) invisible—their lived experiences are not tended to because of assumptions made about them, their bodies are not accommodated for in most public spaces, and they are ignored and spoken about as if they were, indeed, invisible. She writes, ‘‘To be hyper(in)visible means that a person is sometimes paid exceptional attention and is sometimes exceptionally overlooked, and it can happen simultaneously’’ (p. 7). Her interviews with fat women show that they experience these types of (in)visibility in their daily life, and that (in)visibility plays a role in shaping their lived experience. Indeed, Gailey shows that this paradoxical embodiment of invisibility and hyper-visibility gives rise to a unique set of challenges for women of size, as well as a unique set of potentially subversive and resistant actions. One of the strengths of this book is the utter respect with which Gailey treats her subjects and the extent to which she gets out of the way of their voices. Utilizing long quotes from her extensive open-ended interviews, Gailey allows the reader to hear/read the subjects’ words and experiences in a nicely unmediated way. Of course, Gailey has done the scholarly work of coding and analyzing—but the interview subjects’ words feel less like ‘‘data’’ and more like conversation. In her introduction, Gailey writes, ‘‘the women’s voices guide us through the daily trials and tribulations they encounter being fat’’ (p. 27), and it is to her credit that she allows them to do exactly that. The result is that readers are given a respectfully rendered intimate portrait of what it feels like to be very fat in America through five substantive chapters exploring various moments of embodiment and relationship. In those chapters, Gailey reveals how her subjects are encouraged to ‘‘fight’’ their fat bodies and advised on how to ‘‘fix’’ their fat bodies; she shows how they do and do not articulate and experience loving relationships with self and others, through fitness and health, through sexual intimacy, and through community-building. Gailey’s subjects recount extremely painful stories of being bullied, marginalized, ignored, and dismissed in a distressingly wide range of social environments. Her prose reminds readers to check our own assumptions; she writes, ‘‘we as a society believe that we know a fat person’s habits just from looking at the person’’ (p. 60), while giving us the voices of women who might want to challenge just what it is we ‘‘know’’ about them. Gailey also, though, highlights stories of acceptance and love—found sometimes in seemingly unlikely places—and potentially powerful moments of activism and action. In this way, the book challenges 304 Reviews
The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed soci... more The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed social problems over the last twenty or so years. There is an intense focus from the media, popular culture, government agencies, and medical community about the harms of “obesity,” which includes strategies for eradicating the “obesity epidemic.” Public discussions of “excess weight” typically imply that fat persons are responsible for their body size, and public health policy recommendations follow from that assumption. Through the voices of 74 women of size, I demonstrate the ways in which the “obesity epidemic” discourse is a form of symbolic violence. Interviewees discussed countless acts of public humiliation, blocked opportunities, and fears about attending appointments with health care practitioners because of the stigma, discrimination, and mistreatment they receive. Moreover, the anti-fat rhetoric made interviewees feel responsible for the oppression. The violence manifested throug...
The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed soci... more The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed social problems over the last twenty or so years. There is an intense focus from the media, popular culture, government agencies, and medical community about the harms of “obesity,” which includes strategies for eradicating the “obesity epidemic.” Public discussions of “excess weight” typically imply that fat persons are responsible for their body size, and public health policy recommendations follow from that assumption. Through the voices of 74 women of size, I demonstrate the ways in which the “obesity epidemic” discourse is a form of symbolic violence. Interviewees discussed countless acts of public humiliation, blocked opportunities, and fears about attending appointments with health care practitioners because of the stigma, discrimination, and mistreatment they receive. Moreover, the anti-fat rhetoric made interviewees feel responsible for the oppression. The violence manifested throug...
ABSTRACT The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape... more ABSTRACT The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape, and affects the relationships and perceptions of people of size. In this introduction to the special issue on fat oppression, we examine the concept of oppression and its place in fat studies before reviewing the extant literature on fat oppression. We also discuss how the articles chosen for this issue contribute to the existing theoretical and empirical understanding of fat oppression. We conclude by encouraging scholarship that utilizes diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the oppression of fat people.
When the research for this project concluded and I decided to write a book, rather than publish a... more When the research for this project concluded and I decided to write a book, rather than publish a series of journal articles, one of my goals was to give voice to the amazing women who shared their time and stories with me. As I listened to, read, and reread the transcripts of these interviews, the overarching theme that came through was the phenomenon of hyper(in)visibility. The women I interviewed talked about their identities, dieting histories, health, sexual and relationship experiences, and the way they are treated and perceived by the larger culture within the spectrum of visibility. They recounted instances where they felt they were made into a spectacle while shopping in the grocery store, at the gym, or in the doctor’s office. Some of the women told harrowing stories of near-death experiences because physicians failed to see past their body size, or they recounted instances where intimate partners took advantage of them because their needs were not viewed as “important,” while others described occasions where family members denigrated them, neglected them, and overlooked their pain and humiliation. But these women also made it clear that they are incredibly strong, resilient, and perseverant despite the predicament of hyper(in)visibility and sordid typecasts.
In this manuscript, the voices of women of size in North America and Finland indicate that there ... more In this manuscript, the voices of women of size in North America and Finland indicate that there is a shared experience of being fat. Based on cross-cultural analysis of our respective empirical findings, we argue that there is a shared Western fat lived experience that perpetuates a stigmatized gendered landscape of living with a fat body. The emergent themes tended to revolve around two similar contradictions—the phenomenon of hyper(in)visibility and a belief their fatness is a temporary or liminal state—both of which lead to an internalization of fat hatred. We argue that these findings stem from the tremendous stigma and mistreatment that both samples of women face in their daily lives. The present study contributes to the literature by addressing two research lacunas: 1) the lack of cross-cultural research in fat studies; and 2) the limited mainstream feminist research from the perspective of fat women.
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2016
Jeannine Gailey’s book The Hyper(in)Visible Fat Woman makes several distinct and useful contribut... more Jeannine Gailey’s book The Hyper(in)Visible Fat Woman makes several distinct and useful contributions to a wide range of literatures, including sociology, fat studies, and feminism. Though there is even more to be done with the data that Gailey has, her initial foray into its richness and depth is welcome for its deployment of an ‘‘ocular ethic’’ to turn scholarly attention to the lives of very fat women. Gailey argues that ‘‘magnifying’’ the ‘‘marginalized bodies’’ of fat women allows us to see that which has been hidden, and that magnifying their experiences through close attention will help us develop an understanding of these women’s lives. The book’s primary contribution is to point out the multiple sites of paradox in the lives of fat women and, in pointing them out, to coin the term ‘‘hyper(in)visibility.’’ Gailey persuasively demonstrates the multiple ways that women are both (hyper) visible— their bodies are closely regarded, objects of shame and humiliation—and (hyper) invisible—their lived experiences are not tended to because of assumptions made about them, their bodies are not accommodated for in most public spaces, and they are ignored and spoken about as if they were, indeed, invisible. She writes, ‘‘To be hyper(in)visible means that a person is sometimes paid exceptional attention and is sometimes exceptionally overlooked, and it can happen simultaneously’’ (p. 7). Her interviews with fat women show that they experience these types of (in)visibility in their daily life, and that (in)visibility plays a role in shaping their lived experience. Indeed, Gailey shows that this paradoxical embodiment of invisibility and hyper-visibility gives rise to a unique set of challenges for women of size, as well as a unique set of potentially subversive and resistant actions. One of the strengths of this book is the utter respect with which Gailey treats her subjects and the extent to which she gets out of the way of their voices. Utilizing long quotes from her extensive open-ended interviews, Gailey allows the reader to hear/read the subjects’ words and experiences in a nicely unmediated way. Of course, Gailey has done the scholarly work of coding and analyzing—but the interview subjects’ words feel less like ‘‘data’’ and more like conversation. In her introduction, Gailey writes, ‘‘the women’s voices guide us through the daily trials and tribulations they encounter being fat’’ (p. 27), and it is to her credit that she allows them to do exactly that. The result is that readers are given a respectfully rendered intimate portrait of what it feels like to be very fat in America through five substantive chapters exploring various moments of embodiment and relationship. In those chapters, Gailey reveals how her subjects are encouraged to ‘‘fight’’ their fat bodies and advised on how to ‘‘fix’’ their fat bodies; she shows how they do and do not articulate and experience loving relationships with self and others, through fitness and health, through sexual intimacy, and through community-building. Gailey’s subjects recount extremely painful stories of being bullied, marginalized, ignored, and dismissed in a distressingly wide range of social environments. Her prose reminds readers to check our own assumptions; she writes, ‘‘we as a society believe that we know a fat person’s habits just from looking at the person’’ (p. 60), while giving us the voices of women who might want to challenge just what it is we ‘‘know’’ about them. Gailey also, though, highlights stories of acceptance and love—found sometimes in seemingly unlikely places—and potentially powerful moments of activism and action. In this way, the book challenges 304 Reviews
The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed soci... more The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed social problems over the last twenty or so years. There is an intense focus from the media, popular culture, government agencies, and medical community about the harms of “obesity,” which includes strategies for eradicating the “obesity epidemic.” Public discussions of “excess weight” typically imply that fat persons are responsible for their body size, and public health policy recommendations follow from that assumption. Through the voices of 74 women of size, I demonstrate the ways in which the “obesity epidemic” discourse is a form of symbolic violence. Interviewees discussed countless acts of public humiliation, blocked opportunities, and fears about attending appointments with health care practitioners because of the stigma, discrimination, and mistreatment they receive. Moreover, the anti-fat rhetoric made interviewees feel responsible for the oppression. The violence manifested throug...
The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed soci... more The concern globally over the “obesity epidemic” has become one of the most widely discussed social problems over the last twenty or so years. There is an intense focus from the media, popular culture, government agencies, and medical community about the harms of “obesity,” which includes strategies for eradicating the “obesity epidemic.” Public discussions of “excess weight” typically imply that fat persons are responsible for their body size, and public health policy recommendations follow from that assumption. Through the voices of 74 women of size, I demonstrate the ways in which the “obesity epidemic” discourse is a form of symbolic violence. Interviewees discussed countless acts of public humiliation, blocked opportunities, and fears about attending appointments with health care practitioners because of the stigma, discrimination, and mistreatment they receive. Moreover, the anti-fat rhetoric made interviewees feel responsible for the oppression. The violence manifested throug...
ABSTRACT The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape... more ABSTRACT The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape, and affects the relationships and perceptions of people of size. In this introduction to the special issue on fat oppression, we examine the concept of oppression and its place in fat studies before reviewing the extant literature on fat oppression. We also discuss how the articles chosen for this issue contribute to the existing theoretical and empirical understanding of fat oppression. We conclude by encouraging scholarship that utilizes diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the oppression of fat people.
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