Abstract

This thesis examines fat positive feminism by looking at the relationship between fat acceptance and feminism in current fat activist blogs. After providing a contextual history of fat positive feminism, fat activist blogs are considered thematically, drawing from blog narratives to show how fat activist bloggers experience fat and feminism as working together or in conflict with each other. This discussion begins with an extensive look at how fat activist women critique the mind body dualism, offering their own framework for conceptualizing embodiment. The study goes on to examine the societal policing of fat women's bodies, considering how and why this policing occurs. This leads to a discussion of how fat acceptance and feminism work together as well as the movements' potential for mutual learning. The author draws on all of these discussions, as well as on her own experience as a fat positive blogger to call for a strong reciprocal relationship between fat acceptance and feminism.

Advisor

Fitz Gibbon, Heather

Department

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Disciplines

Communication Technology and New Media | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | Other American Studies | Women's Studies

Publication Date

2010

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2010 Alison Peters