Fat Gay Men: Girth, Mirth, and the Politics of Stigma

Intersections: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Genders and Sexualities

by Jason Whitesel

To be fat in a thin-obsessed gay culture can be difficult. Despite affectionate in-group monikers for big gay men–chubs, bears, cubs–the anti-fat stigma that persists in American culture at large still haunts these individuals who often exist at the margins of gay communities. In  Fat Gay Men , Jason Whitesel delves into the world of Girth & Mirth, a nationally known social club dedicated to big gay men, illuminating the ways in which these men form identities and community in the face of adversity. In existence for over forty years, the club has long been a refuge and ‘safe space’ for such men. Both a partial insider as a gay man and an outsider to Girth & Mirth, Whitesel offers an insider’s critique of the gay movement, questioning whether the social consequences of the failure to be height-weight proportionate should be so extreme in the gay community. This book documents performances at club events and examines how participants use allusion and campy-queer behavior to reconfigure and reclaim their sullied body images, focusing on the numerous tensions of marginalization and dignity that big gay men experience and how they negotiate these tensions via their membership to a size-positive group. Based on ethnographic interviews and in-depth field notes from more than 100 events at bar nights, café klatches, restaurants, potlucks, holiday bashes, pool parties, movie nights, and weekend retreats, the book explores the woundedness that comes from being relegated to an inferior position in gay hierarchies, and yet celebrates how some gay men can reposition the shame of fat stigma through carnival, camp, and play. A compelling and rich narrative,  Fat Gay Men  provides a rare glimpse into an unexplored dimension of weight and body image in American culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, Sociology, Fat, LGBT, Gay, Queer Lit

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2014

Reviews

[Sumant Salunke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely extremely accessible, lucid and to the point - perhaps a little too simplistic at times, but shed light on some excellent points for me. I was particularly interested by how Whitesel positions fatness and performance of fatness in the spectacle of the carnival, and enjoyed how he wrote about the inescapability of physical visibility while simultaneously going through cultural erasure.

What I did not enjoy in the least were some throwaway sentences that created strange, almost ridiculous, parallels which were not accurate nor very acceptable. I remember being disquieted a few times, the first one I remember being where he compares a fat person facing discrimination in a store to the way a prostitute would be treated (while name-checking Pretty Woman). Another instance was drawing a direct parallel between sizism and gender inequality in healthcare — without once mentioning that there are also people facing both by the same institution, which complicates the dialectic he creates. My biggest gripe was how fat gay men are shown as one homogenous unit without their own internal mechanisms of oppression excepting their own scales (no pun intended) of chubs/super-chubs. There is a glaring lack of study of gays of size and colour, and disabled and economically underprivileged gay men of size. The whole group is presented as a unified, synchronous whole going out in the woods under the moonlight to make merry. I thought it was a glaring oversight and an unfortunate erasure. Finally, the ethicality of not revealing his researcher status to his subjects of study is so hazy to me, and I never really understood his reasoning why, nor did he elaborate upon it.

[Robert McAuliffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad this author tackled this as it's a vastly understudied subject - fat studies is really still trying to find its feet, and the juxtaposition of that lived experience with the experience of gayness and masculinity is doubly underexposed. However, as someone who shares the titular identity categories, I didn't feel in any way represented by this text. I'd never heard of the organizations and conferences referenced - perhaps this is a generational divide between an older, more ghettoized pre-internet queer community and that of today. This book's scope, in being limited to just those demographics, was underwhelming and distinctly alienating for me.

I also didn't like that the author uncritically accepted everything these men told him about their experiences. Of course I can vouch for the unique stigmatization of being fat within the gay community. However, the author took no efforts to recognize the privileges held by this class, in their overwhelming whiteness, (in the case of the convention-goers) upper class status, and, obviously, maleness. My experiences with the "chub" and "bear" communities reveal them to be a hotbed of anti-feminine misogyny and paradoxically, body-shaming. Some of that comes through in quotes used in this book, but it is neither challenged nor examined. The victimization narratives presented here are accepted in totality, with no consideration of the privileges that contribute to its construction.

I liked the author's use of theory, although it seemed to be a bit of a crutch at times, grasping at straws to connect experiences with Goffman and Sontag. However, the theoretical research was thorough and well done.

Overall, I think a lot of the book's failures can be attributed to the methodology - I would imagine it is difficult to take a critical approach to ethnography without alienating the author from the people he's studying. However, that does not excuse justifying and excusing the ways in which prejudice informs their identities. In all, this is a good starting point for the author, or perhaps someone else, to write a more exhaustive and inclusive study of the intersections of fatness and queer identity.

[Tokyo D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d rate it 2.5 stars. It’s very interesting to hear about this community within a community but I dislike the tone that the author takes when using terms such as “social injuries” and “anti-fat bias” as he infantilizes his subject matter. He completely ignores the health concerns that come with obesity and which explain why society does not encourage people to be fat.

Becoming overweight is a very easy and is a complex issue in western cultures, which is pushed by political and economic factors (The books Food Politics, Why Calories Count and Soda politics fully explain these issues) but is blamed on personal responsibility, which is straight out of the processed food industry playbook. It’s wrong for society and these industries to blame the victim but the author could have really gone much deeper and been more objective.

[Brandon Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this

Overall this was a stimulating read. The author could of done a better job addressing the issues associated with values of being masculine vs femininity in the gay community. That said I really resonated with much of the content in the book.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitesel is making ethnographic studies fun and sexy again.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book tackles an interesting and rarely discussed topic. The book is relatively short, I was able to read it in chunks under three days.

List of things that the book does well:
1. offers a rare glimpse into the social events of chubs in the United States
2. offers a thorough synopsis of the many challenges that overweight gay men face
3. very colorful language and descriptions

Main criticisms:
1. as another commentator pointed out, the author does not examine intersectionality of race, ethnicity and sexuality. The author mentions several Asian, Native and Black chubs, but completely fails to take into account of their experience(s). Even back in 2013, a significant subgenre of "big men" porn involved Japanese chubs.
2. sociological details are too scattered throughout the text to be coherent. I didn't really understand the concepts even after reading the appendix.
3. overuse of terms such as "camp", "campy-queer", "campy" and "carnivalesque" without properly conceptualizing them.
4. where are the pictures? I could only imagine the scenes using the flowery language in the text, even one picture may have helped with contrasting the settings between Super Weekend and Convergence

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author does a wonderful in depth study of a Midwestern Bears organization members & participates in the social activities of the club...