ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the logic of contested claims about the meaning of the shrinking fat body. It explores the value of notions of fluidity that are embraced in queer theory, offers words of caution about a wholesale embrace of fluidity, and considers the future of fat politics in light of body ambivalence. Fat activist Marianne Kirby, who blogs at The Rotund expresses a common sentiment when she writes: there is a lot of damage done to the idea that you, as an activist, accept yourself when you are working specifically to lose weight. Fat activism argues that pride and acceptance of fatness run directly counter to an impulse to change. There is strife within the universe of fat activism surrounding the practice of intentional weight loss. The eagerness with which fat activists marshal health-related claims to counter mainstream medical discourse demonstrates that even those who want to create more space for fat bodies are heavily invested in biomedical discourses.
