Is fatness a feminist issue?

Recent research published in Sex Roles suggests that while many fat women identify as feminists, they do not consistently view their body size as a feminist issue. The study highlights a divide in how women understand their bodies, with some pointing to gendered double standards and societal discrimination, while others view their weight as a matter of personal responsibility.

Anti-fatness refers to the systemic and interpersonal prejudice directed at people with larger bodies. Feminist scholars have often linked this anti-fat stigma to traditional gender roles and patriarchal beauty norms. This perspective argues that societal pressure to be thin falls especially hard on women, creating toxic environments that negatively impact their body image, mental health, and social standing.

“American society is often fixated on how women look,” lead author Breanne Fahs, a professor of women and gender studies at Arizona State University and author of Fat and Furious: Igniting Radical Fat Resistance, told PsyPost. “Women are often told to be young, pretty, and skinny by their parents, partners, classmates, and strangers. Psychological research has often shown the problems with ‘thin idealization’ and living for a male gaze. In particular, women are criticized about having defective bodies, and they consequently fear gaining weight, try dangerous diets, and/or loathe their own bodies.”

“In the 1970s, second wave feminists warned that the fixation on slender bodies seriously hurt women and the slogan of ‘fat is a feminist issue’ was born,” Fahs added. “In the last twenty years there has been a growth of social movements that challenged the sexist assumptions of fat stigma, with the group called National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) leading the way.”

Research has shown that fat women generally face harsher social and economic consequences for their body size than fat men. In one study, fat women were 16 times more likely than fat men to report weight-related job discrimination, and other studies have found that fat women receive harsher judgments of their parenting and are more often denied loans, promotions, or apartments. Fat men, on the other hand, tend to face less stigma and fewer everyday indignities for similar body sizes.

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Despite these documented disparities, it has remained an open question whether fat women themselves view their physical experiences through a political or feminist lens. Fahs and her colleague Eric Swank, a professor of social and cultural analysis at Arizona State University, sought to understand how fat women talk about this connection and whether they recognize the gendered dimensions of weight stigma that academics often discuss.

“Lots of research has looked at the causes and consequences of fat hatred among women of all body sizes,” Fahs explained. “Some studies have even looked at the reasons for being a fat activist, but the way fat women view feminism has mostly been overlooked.”

Fahs’s own work helped motivate the project. She has written about women’s dread of gaining weight, anti-fat bias in health care, and the relationships between fat therapists and fat patients. Her experience as both a professor and a practicing clinical psychologist left her curious about whether fat women see anti-fat stigma through a feminist lens.

To investigate this, the researchers interviewed 20 women living in the United States who self-identified as fat or overweight. The participants were recruited through local classified advertisements on Craigslist, allowing the research team to reach a geographically diverse group. The women ranged in age from 27 to 66, with an average age of 40. Half were women of color, 40 percent identified as bisexual or lesbian, and their body weights ranged from under 200 to over 300 pounds.

All 20 interviews were conducted by Fahs over video calls and lasted about 90 minutes each. She asked the women questions about their bodies, their social experiences, and their political perspectives. Two key questions guided the core of the analysis: whether the participants considered themselves feminists, and whether they believed fatness was a feminist issue. The researchers did not provide a definition of feminism, allowing each participant to respond according to her own understanding.

The participants’ responses pointed to a complex divide between personal identification and political frameworks. Thirteen women explicitly identified as feminists, three said they might use the label for certain issues, and four rejected it entirely. When asked if fatness was a feminist issue, the group was evenly split: eight said yes, four said maybe, and eight said no. Several self-identified feminists insisted that fatness was not a feminist issue, while one woman, identified in the study as Marge, firmly rejected the feminist label but still stated that it was.

The researchers identified six distinct themes in how the participants evaluated the issue. Three of the themes supported a connection between weight and feminism. Four women highlighted gendered double standards, observing that society readily accepts fat men as funny or relatable, while fat women face intense social disapproval for the same size. Three women described fatness as a central way women are judged, explaining that a woman’s social worth remains tied to physical appearance.

Overt discrimination, tied for the most common theme linking the two concepts, was raised by four participants. These women cited institutional obstacles in hiring, healthcare, and media representation as evidence of a broader feminist problem. When discussing these barriers, Fahs noted that participants “elaborated how workplaces, hospitals, schools, and families discriminate against women who are fat.”

The remaining three themes rejected the connection between body size and feminism. Three women stated that fatness has nothing to do with feminism, arguing that body weight is an individual matter of personal responsibility and lifestyle rather than gender politics. Two women maintained that fatness has nothing to do with gender, arguing that weight stigma affects people of all genders equally and should not be framed as a women’s issue.

In the final theme, three participants argued that fat women deserve ridicule, framing teasing as a natural consequence of body size or a motivator to lose weight.

Describing these women, Fahs said, “They thought fat women were supposed to be ‘made fun of by someone who is not fat’ and fat people ‘should lose weight’ if they do not want to be teased. This diversity of perspectives shows how fat resistance and feminist fat liberation perspectives still diverge from narratives of self-blame and ridicule.”

The findings point to an uneven alignment between feminist theory and the everyday perspectives of fat women. While some participants expressed an awareness of gender inequality, others expressed anti-fat attitudes, which the authors say could reflect internalized stigma or a form of anti-feminism, or viewed their struggles as entirely personal. The researchers noted that framing fatness through a political lens rather than individual failure could help people challenge anti-fat bias and reduce feelings of personal self-blame.

As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. The study relied on a small group of 20 women recruited through Craigslist during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the sample does not reflect the full population of fat women in the United States. In addition, the questions about feminism came after about an hour of discussion focused on fatness, which may have influenced the way participants answered.

The study also asked participants whether they identified as feminists rather than measuring specific feminist beliefs, and several women appeared to associate feminism primarily with the #MeToo movement or perceived extremes. Both researchers identify as fat feminists, and Fahs conducted all 20 interviews herself, which could have shaped how participants discussed sensitive topics. Future research using standardized surveys could help clarify how widespread these viewpoints are across the broader population.

The study, “Does Fatness Politicize Women? Fat Women’s Narratives on Whether Fatness is a Feminist Issue,” was authored by Breanne Fahs and Eric Swank.