ABSTRACT
In many cultures, the dominant paradigm for understanding fat bodies is that they (a) impede healthy living and (b) are modifiable through individual behavior. The dominant paradigm for understanding gender is that we are born either biologically male or female and that intersex bodies and people with diverse gender identities are fringe populations with questionable mental health. Both gender and fat are so heavily understood via their dominant cultural narratives, these narrow analyses are tantamount to “common sense.” This is all the more reason to analyze the intersecting narratives governing and shaping our understanding of these two social indicators. This chapter uses storytelling and also references narrative accounts to examine the following interstices of fat and gender: (1) epistemology of fat and gender via narrative, (2) the ways in which body fat constructs gender and gender constructs body fat as dangerous to personal credibility, (3) the effects of fashion on fat and gender, (4) queerness, gender non-conformity and their potential for aiding compassionate narratives regarding fat, moving forward.
