Why Fatphobia? Understanding the Roots and Uses of Anti-fat Bias

Savala Nolan discusses how Fatphobia (or anti-fat bias) is widespread and has deep roots in the United States–but it isn’t inevitable or innate. It is learned, and it is particular to specific times, places, and cultures. Why do some cultures regard fat bodies as positive or neutral while others regard fat bodies as problems to be avoided and solved? In this talk, she explores a constellation of ideas that create and flow from fatphobia, from anti-black racism to patriarchy, from the BMI and the Health At Every Size rubric to core concepts of the fat liberations/body neutrality movements. She considers the uses of fatphobia–what work it does in the culture–and consider what it might be like to have a world free from this learned and harmful bias.