Fat Feminisms: Body Image, Gender Politics and F(l)abulous Visions of the Future: A Proposed Panel at the National Women's Studies Association 2008 Meeting

This panel seeks papers which explore the intersections of gender, sexuality, feminism, and fatness from a theoretical, philosophical and political perspective. In particular, I am interested in papers which call upon personal narratives and lived experiences as multiply-"othered" bodies to theorize the boundaries of fat feminist discourse. How can we shape a feminist studies which is fat-positive and a fat studies which is unapologetically feminist? How do we teach fat liberation in the classroom and what does fat feminist activism look like? This will be the first panel organized by the Fat Studies Interest Group, which will become a recognized entity at the 2008 Conference!

Possible Topics Include (but are not limited to):

 Personal narratives about the intersection of gender and size
 Teaching fat politics and liberation in the Womens/Gender Studies Classroom
 Fat feminist utopias: what does your ideal future look like?
 Fat feminist media/literary criticism
 Fat feminist political activism: how do we use our agency to provoke change?
 The intersection of gender/size with race, class and dis/ability
 Fat sexualities, gender identities and gender expression and sex-positive feminism

Proposals should be submitted via e-mail to Joelle Ruby Ryan (joeller@bgsu. edu) no later than Monday, October 29, 2007. Please include a 250-500 word proposal description, a brief bio and a 50-100 word abstract and the following info:

Name
Institutional Affiliation
Address
Phone
Email

Please note that I am also looking for a Moderator for this session. Contact me if interested.