Liberating Fat Bodies

Using a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, this book explores the social factors that influence the extent to which societal norms force women to self-police their bodies. Chapters examine racist and colonial constructions of Western beauty norms as well as the evolution of fatphobia and fat liberation before delving into the relationship between media and body positivity, with a particular emphasis on the censorship and self-censorship of bodies on social media and resistances to such forms of policing. The authors draw on first-person narratives from members of the "Femme FATales," a plus-size burlesque troupe from Chicago in order to unpack how these women use their bodies to transform the negative social perception of fat people and challenge negative body image.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students in Sociology, Gender Studies, History, and Media Studies who research body image and beauty norms.