Fat Femininities: On the convergence of fat studies & critical femininities

Abstract: What is the relationship between fatness and femininity? How do prejudices toward fat bodies (i.e., fatphobia) and femininity (i.e., femmephobia) intersect? How does scholarship on femininities converge with scholarship on fatness? And, what novel insights can be cultivated by putting the fields of fat studies and critical femininities into conversation? In this article, we explore these questions, arguing that fatphobia and femmephobia, as well as the dominant cultural framings of fatness and femininity, are inextricably intertwined. Specifically, we challenge femininity’s associations with superficiality and oppression, discussing instead the importance of intersectional and recuperative approaches to fat femininities. Accordingly, this article illuminates the complex relationships between femininity and fatness; how these relationships differ across intersectional axes of privilege and oppression; as well as the ways femininity and fatness – or, by extension, femmephobia and fatphobia – intertwine to create unique experiences of gendered embodiment. Ultimately, with this article, we advocate for the importance of exploring diverse fat feminine embodiments and the potential for critical femininities to transform how we think about and embody fatness.

Allison Taylor & Rhea Ashley Hoskin

Gay fat femininities! A call for fat femininities in research on gay socio-sexual applications

Abstract: Fatphobia and femmephobia are highly interconnected structures of oppression that heavily impact the romantic and sexual lives of gay fat and femme men. Researchers have yet to place critical femininities studies – specifically femme theory – and fat studies together to analyze the regulation of fatness and femininity in gay socio-sexual applications (GSSAs). As such, this article is a call for future empirical research to use these two analytics – femme theory and fat studies – in tandem to deconstruct systems of homonormativity within GSSAs. Specifically, this article draws explicitly from femme theory and fat studies work on shame and failure, placing both in conversation with current work on gay men and GSSAs, to illuminate how these feelings can be motivating forces for political activism. Such feelings of gay fat femme shame and failure can disrupt hierarchies that exist within GSSAs by challenging the boundaries of identity that marginalize gay fat femme men while also focusing on fat and femme agency.

Adam Davies (he/him/they/them) is an Assistant Professor in Family Relations and Human Development at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Canada. Adam holds a PhD in Curriculum Studies & Teacher Development with collaborative specializations in Women and Gender Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies from the University of Toronto and researches gay masculinities, LGBTQ schooling, critical disability studies, and early childhood education.

Understanding body size and bisexuality via femme theory: An investigation of self- and meta-perceptions of gender expression

Abstract: Existing literature fails to address bisexual women’s experiences at the intersection of fem(me)ininity and fatness. Fat fem(me)inine bisexual women experience hyper-visibility in their fatness and hyper-invisibility in their fem(me)inine and queer identities; their concurrent violations of dominant norms of thinness, heterosexuality, monosexism, and expectations of queer women’s gender expression (as masculine) position them as uniquely and multiply marginalized. Literature on these women’s experiences of fat gendered embodiment is lacking but could inform understandings of mechanisms of multiple marginalization. In a sample of 188 bisexual women (61% White; Mage = 27), we examined relationships between bisexual women’s self-perceived femininity/masculinity, reports of how others perceive their femininity/masculinity (i.e., meta-perceptions), and their body size. We hypothesized that bisexual women’s self-reported gender expression would not correlate with body size, but that meta-perceptions of bisexual women’s gender expression would. Specifically, we expected others to perceive fatter bisexual women as more masculine given the association of fatness with masculinity and butch lesbians. We found that both self-perceived and meta-perceptions of gender expression were generally unrelated to body size, whether measured via BMI or self-perception. However, moderation analyses revealed that when bisexual women were perceived as sexual minorities, increased BMI was related to decreased meta-perceptions of femininity. The present results suggest perceived sexual orientation may be an important factor in understanding how fatness, gender expression, and sexuality interact to produce the multiple marginalization faced by bisexual women. We discuss the need for closer examination of bisexual women’s experiences of oppression at the intersection of fatness and fem(me)ininity.

Flora Oswald (M.S.) is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellow in the departments of Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Flora’s primary research examines the intersection of weight stigma and sexual prejudice.

Jes L. Matsick (Ph.D.) is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research program incorporates feminist perspectives into the psychological study of stigma and prejudice, with an emphasis on the perspectives and experiences of stigmatized groups (e.g., LGBTQ+ people).

Femininity and fat after midlife: Rachel Lynde and the invisibility of fat aging in Canadian literature

Abstract: Though theorists argue that experiences of race, gender and sexuality fluctuate and change across a full life course, the same thinking has not yet been applied to fat studies, where aging fat folks are often doubly marginalized by popular and academic culture. In a study of one Canadian literary depiction of fat aging, Rachel Lynde from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), this article will examine the dialectical tensions between cultural delineations of invisibility in aging and hyper-visibility in fatness, and desexualization in midlife and hypersexuality in fatness. This article proposes that while there may be some overlap or experiences in common for fat folks generally, the mental, physical, and cultural experience of fatness alters over the life course. There may be a space in the margins from which to reconsider and repatriate fat, aging feminine bodies.

Emily Bruusgaard (she/they) is a sessional instructor in English at Trent University currently at work on a larger project exploring domestic needlework and the construction of twentieth-century white middle-class femininity in Canada (while surrounded by half-empty mugs of tea and the occasional chocolate wrapper).

“Bargaining with the Status Quo”: Reinforcing and Expanding Femininities in the #bodypositive Movement

Abstract: Contemporary representations of beauty in the United States emphasize a feminine ideal that is white, thin, able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual, and young. However, with the advent of hashtag feminism, body positive influencers have sought to challenge the idealization of thin bodies and encourage people to rethink the boundaries of ideal femininity by positing an alternative esthetic that celebrates bodies in varying shapes and sizes. Drawing on interviews with 12 body positive influencers and an examination of 159 Instagram posts, the author examines how body positive influencers modify stereotypical understandings of femininity. The results suggest that challenging femininity and beauty in the body positive movement requires negotiation. While body positive influencers seek to expand the boundaries of femininity to include fat bodies, they also reinforce some traditional norms of femininity. However, interviews with influencers suggest that Instagram images read as reinforcing patriarchal femininity are misinterpreted queer femme imagery. By conducting both a content analysis of Instagram posts and interviews, this research captures a more nuanced understanding of the body positive movement—one that not only enforces patriarchal femininity, but also redefines femininity through fat femme representation.

Rayanne Streeter, PhD, is an assistant professor of sociology at Maryville College whose research focuses on the boundaries women face and how they try to combat these in various arenas, including social media, television and film, and sports. Her work appears in Women in Sport and Physical Activity and her coauthored book Gender in Film and Video.

Femininity, Body Size, and (Mis)Fitting in Rock Climbing Culture

Abstract: What power relations exist at the intersections of femininity and fatness in rock climbing? In this article, we theorize our experiences with indoor recreational rock climbing focusing on climbing culture’s tendency toward femmephobia, sizeism, and body normativity. Using fat studies and critical femininities, we unite theory and personal experience to examine how the sport uses “fit-ness” to bring climbers into alignment with an idealized form. We argue that consistent surveillance of the body and athletic performance lends itself to femmephobic sizeism that sees non-normative bodies as “misfits” in the climbing gym. We also advocate for re-valuing the feminized intimacies of rock climbing that are already built into the mechanics of the sport but are more evident for those subjected to a fatphobic gaze. Diversifying rock climbing necessitates expanding ways to “fit,” and so we conclude with structural and cultural next steps to improve marginalized experiences and the sport itself. Ultimately, our consideration of fatness and femininity in indoor rock climbing draws attention to broader cultural tensions surrounding embodiment, health, size, gender, and belonging.

Lindsey N. Breitwieser, Ph.D., is Postdoctoral Fellow of Gender Studies and Affiliate of the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values at the University of Notre Dame. She earned a PhD in Gender Studies from Indiana University. Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of disability theory, feminist science and technology studies, and queer of color anti-humanisms.

Jocelyne Bartram Scott, Ph.D. is the Director of Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Bucknell University. Dr. Scott earned her Ph.D. in Gender Studies from Indiana University and uses her expertise in feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, and critical femininity studies to create research-based diversity, equity, and inclusion interventions.

“Just There for the Fashion, Basically:” Politicised Fem(me)ininity in the Fat-o-sphere

Abstract: Body positivity is experiencing a cultural moment of popularity. Recognizable by its self-love and “inclusive” messaging, body positivity’s primary aim is to help people feel “good” in their bodies. However, the movement also receives legitimate critiques which argue only some bodies are celebrated. Fem(me)inine fat people are centralized in body positivity and with the popularization of branding influenced microblogging comes a very specific, cultivated femme style associated with popular fatshion. This article explores where fem(me)inine fatshion styles come from and whether femme is being recognized as a political identity in the body positivity and fat activist movements. Using case studies and autobiographies of people engaging with body positive ideologies, I examine the claims that body positivity depoliticizes the fat activist movement and explore whether this happened within a specific femme and fatshion context. I conclude that while embodying fem(me)ininity can feel like an act of resistance, it is unlikely all the goals of fat activism will be met through a “legitimized” fat fem(me)ininity alone.

Gemma Gibson’s research focuses on the history of the body positivity movement and fat activism. She is particularly interested in fat femininity, “wellness” and whiteness.

Weighing the value of femininity: casino cocktail servers and personal appearance standards

Abstract: This article examines the intersections of femininity, labor, fatness and maternity. Specifically, this article explores Atlantic City’s casinos’ treatment of women cocktail servers, arguing that personal Appearance Standards (PAS) are a site of conflict that demonstrates the importance of expanding how femininity is embodied and valued in the workplace. Through a close reading of promotional materials, media coverage, and public lawsuit materials, our study reveals how workers’ bodies and the services they provide are (de)valued through the application of patriarchal feminine standards. Plaintiffs’ accounts demonstrate the push they experience to conform to a weight-based imagining of feminine attractiveness. The expectation of simultaneously providing drink service and entertainment creates an employer demand for hegemonically feminine workers. The result is a rejection of servers whose feminine growth exceeds the normative conceptualization of casinos’ seductive femininity. Gaps in legal protections as well as limited applications of existing discrimination laws continue to enable employers’ overreach into the management of women workers’ bodies.

Ariella Rotramel is the Vandana Shiva Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies at Connecticut College. They published Pushing Back: Women of Color–Led Grassroots Activism in New York City in 2020. arotrame@conncoll.edu, @ariellarotramel on Instagram and Twitter, www.ariellarotramel.com

Megan Tracy is a fourth year student at Connecticut College studying Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies, English, and US Government. Megan is currently writing an honors thesis on transformative justice and sexual violence and serves as the Title IX, Policy, and Legal Ambassador for the college’s Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy. mtracy1@conncoll.edu.

Emma Coles is a 2021 Connecticut College graduate holding a BA in American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. Her academic interests include reproductive justice, housing discrimination, and equitable access to education. ecoles@conncoll.edu.