Unrivalled in its clarity and coverage, this sparkling new edition of Chris Shilling's classic text is a masterful account of the emergence and development of body matters in sociology and related disciplines.A timely, well reasoned response to current concerns and controversies across the globe, it provides chapter-by-chapter coverage of the major theories, approaches and studies conducted in the field. This book is significant for anyone concerned about the contemporary "war on fat" and the ways that notions of the "civilized body" continue to legitimate discrimination and cultural oppression. From the white suffragists of the early 20th century to contemporary public figures like Oprah Winfrey, Monica Lewinsky, and even the Obama family, Farrell explores the ways that those who seek to shed stigmatized identities-whether of gender, race, ethnicity or class-often take part in weight reduction schemes and fat mockery in order to validate themselves as "civilized." In sharp contrast to these narratives of fat shame are the ideas of contemporary fat activists, whose articulation of a new vision of the body Farrell explores in depth. Her work sheds particular light on feminisms' fraught relationship to fatness. This idea-that fatness is a sign of a primitive person-endures today, fueling both our $60 billion "war on fat" and our cultural distress over the "obesity epidemic." Farrell draws on a wide array of sources, including political cartoons, popular literature, postcards, advertisements, and physicians' manuals, to explore the link between our historic denigration of fatness and our contemporary concern over obesity. For 19th and early 20th century thinkers, fatness was a key marker of inferiority, of an uncivilized, barbaric, and primitive body. Firmly in place by the time the diet industry began to flourish in the 1920s, the development of fat stigma was related not only to cultural anxieties that emerged during the modern period related to consumer excess, but, even more profoundly, to prevailing ideas about race, civilization and evolution. Tracing the cultural denigration of fatness to the mid 19th century, Amy Farrell argues that the stigma associated with a fat body preceded any health concerns about a large body size. Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture explores this arc, from veneration to shame, examining the historic roots of our contemporary anxiety about fatness. To be fat hasn't always occasioned the level of hysteria that this condition receives today and indeed was once considered an admirable trait. 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.
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. 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. This burgeoning movement, known as fat studies, includes scholars from every field, as well as activists, artists, and intellectuals. 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. From the government, health industry, diet industry, news media, and popular culture we hear that we should all be focused on our weight. And we have seen the movies-their obvious lack of large leading actors silently speaking volumes. 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.