The Hidden Lives of Big Beautiful Women

Preface
	Mediating Kinship, Representation and Difference
		Kinship
		Technology
		Difference
	Conclusion
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
	Contextualizing the Research
	Positioning Myself
	Terms and Definitions
	Structure of the Book
	References
Chapter 2: Setting the Stage: Ways of Knowing and Seeing Fat
	Diet Culture and the Politics of “Cure”
	Happiness, Emotion, and the Stickiness of Disgust
	The BBW Collective: Trauma Culture, Crisis Ordinariness, and Fatphobia as Traumatic
	References
Chapter 3: Methods and Epistemologies
	Feminist Standpoint Epistemology
	Feminist Methodology: Autoethnography and In-Depth Interviewing
		Autoethnography
		In-Depth Interviewing
	Feminist Research and Reflexivity
	Qualitative Approaches to Data Analysis: Thematic Analysis
	References
Chapter 4: Interrupting Embodiment: Normalizing Gazes and Diet Culture in BBW Bash Spaces
	Normalizing Gazes and Objectification at BBW Bashes
		“Come get your meat!”: Fat Women as Objects for Consumption
		Wandering Eyes, Orgasmic Sighs: Objectification and Dis-Embodiment
		Big Beautiful Eurocentric Beauty Standards: Bashes and the Hierarchy of Attractiveness
	Diet Culture, BBW Party Spaces, and Bodily Disconnection
		“Can we just be fat and have snacks?”: Diet Talk/Behavior in Fat-Centric Party Spaces
		The Case of Bariatric Surgery: Shrinking Bodies in Spaces of Abundance
	Discussion: How Does White Supremacy Show up in Bash Spaces?
	References
Chapter 5: Bashes as Spaces for Healing Everyday Trauma of Fatphobia
	BBW Bashes as Spaces of Access to Pleasure and Desirability
		License to Strut: Affirming and Empowering Attraction-Based Attention at Bashes
		Hedonistic “Fuck-Fests”: Exploring Fat Sex at Bashes
	BBW Bashes as Spaces of Access to Fat Community
		Fat Community Fostering Heightened Self-Esteem
		BBW Babes in Bikinis: Bashes as Spaces for Taking Fashion Risks
		Feeling Normal: Bashes and Their Capacity to Normalize the Fat Body
		Bash Education: Creating Community and Lessons in Self-Advocacy
	Discussion: BBW Community as Fat Activism?
		Fat Activism as Community-Building
		Fat Activism as Cultural Work
		Micro Fat Activism
		Ambiguous Fat Activism
	References
Chapter 6: Conclusion
	Recommendations to BBW Community Organizers
	Opportunities for Future Research
	References
Appendix A: Interview Questions
Appendix B: Participants
References
Index