Fat Sex: New Directions in Theory and Activism

by Helen Hester, Caroline Walters

While fat sexual bodies are highly visible as vehicles for stigma, there has been a lack of scholarly research addressing this facet of contemporary body politics. Fat New Directions in Theory and Activism seeks to rectify this, bringing debates about fat sex into the academic arena and providing a much-needed critical space for voices from across the spectrum of theory and activism. It examines the intersection of fat, sex and sexuality within a contemporary cultural landscape that is openly hostile towards fat people and their perceived social and aesthetic transgressions. Acknowledging and engaging with some of the innovative work being done by artists, activists, and academics around the issue of fat sex, this collection both challenges preconceptions regarding fatness and sexuality, but also critiques and debates various aspects of the fat activist approach. It draws on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, bringing together work from the UK, US, Europe, and Australia to offer a wide-ranging examination of the issues of size, sex, and sexuality. A cutting-edge exploration not only of fat sex, but of identity politics, neoliberalism and contemporary body activism in general, Fat New Directions in Theory and Activism will be of interest to scholars of sociology, cultural studies, geography, porn studies and literary studies working on questions of gender, sexuality and the body.

Genres: Fat Studies

240 pages, Unknown Binding

Published March 9, 2016

About the author

Helen Hester joined UWL from Middlesex University, where she had served as Lecturer in Promotional Cultures and Senior Lecturer in Media.

Her research interests include technofeminism, sexuality studies, and theories of social reproduction, and she is a member of the international feminist collective Laboria Cuboniks.

Helen is the author of Beyond Explicit: Pornography and the Displacement of Sex (SUNY Press, 2014) and the co-editor of the collections Fat Sex: New Directions in Theory and Activism (Ashgate, 2015) and Dea ex Machina (Merve, 2015). She is also the series editor for Ashgate’s 'Sexualities in Society' book series.

Reviews

[Sam Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of really interesting points even though I don't agree with all of them and I enjoy them bringing the topics of fatness and sex into a more academic setting because I feel like it previously has only existed in activism spaces.

That being said, this is written by people who at least can easily be perceived as white people and unless I misunderstood something, everyone is a cis woman. It is very interesting to me that it is noted as a book about fatness, gender, and sex, but really it is a book about fat women.

Absolutely still valuable, but I was hoping for more about gendering, de-gendering, and transition among fat bodies. As a fat trans person that may just be me seeking myself in this information though, and that may not be an issue for others.

[Kat Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of essays. Could very much have used a proofreader.