ABSTRACT
There are various perspectives circulating about fat bodies in the expert, popular and academic literature. The most well-known, the 'anti-obesity' perspective, argues that fatness is a significant health and social problem which must urgently be treated and prevented. In recent years, the work of epidemiologists like Katherine Flegal and her colleagues has challenged 'obesity epidemic' statements. Sceptics from industry are joined by libertarian political advocates, often writing from within right-wing or free-market think tanks in the United States and the United Kingdom, who disdain what they see as the 'nanny state' attempting to impose its views upon its citizens. Several social scientists have engaged in detailed critiques of the medical and public health research and policy documents about obesity. Michel Foucault's writings on the body, the medical clinic and the medical gaze, biopower and biopolitics in contemporary neoliberal societies have been particularly influential in the scholarship on fat in the humanities and social sciences.
