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Fat is a Feminist Issue

January 17, 2007 at 10:47 am

Ironically, now that I’m not really fat anymore I’ve been reading more about obesity than I ever did when I was obese. Maybe I’m more willing to confront the issue now that it’s not so immediate and painful. My latest fat read was Fat Is a Feminist Issue, a phrase I’d heard thrown around without knowing it was also a book. I never took a women’s studies course, so I’m a bit out of my depth when it comes to feminist literature. Written by Susie Orbach in 1978, it examines why women become compulsive eaters, hypothesizing that they might perceive certain advantages to being fat, though they’re typically unaware of them. Orbach advocates forming discussion groups to help women explore and understand these issues so they can overcome them.

There was a lot of information in this book, far more than I could wrap my head around in one sitting. Reading about the different reasons why women may subconsciously want to stay fat was fascinating, if only to see how many different ways people can be [...]