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On this week’s ‘sode I’m talking to Dr. Charlotte Cooper, psychotherapist and author of fat activism; she is punk, witchy, queer, and fat, and one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. This is potentially one of my favourite episodes ever. We talk about the euphimising and watering down of fat phobia by the medical establishment. We talk about how the ‘War on Obesity’ and organisations like the WHO are responsible for creating the problem of fat phobia in the first place and how they are now trying to clean their own mess and STILL GETTING IT WRONG. We talk about why using person first language in relation to obesity is still problematic. We talk about maintaining power structures through constructing fat bodies as problems that need solving and so much more. It’s a really rich conversation. I highly recommend you read Charlotte’s book and follow her work.
Show Notes
{Charlotte’s Website}
{Charlotte on Twitter}
{Cat Pousé podcast}
{Fat Activism}
{Fat & Proud}
{A walk around Fat Activist London}
{Nothing About Us Without Us: Fat People and Research Justice by Dr Charlotte Cooper}
{Obesity Time Bomb}
{Sabrina Falco Massage}
{Amanda LaCount}
{LADA}
I *loved* this conversation, thank you so much, I was fist-pumping and declaring “damn right” all the way through. So needed to hear this after the spike in toxic diet culture nonsense in the media this week (after Public Health England’s new guidelines).
Oh and fwiw I’m more down with practicing fat acceptance for myself, because being in a body isn’t always a joyful thing, sometimes I just am, I’m just being, and I don’t think the phrase suggests an approach of mere tolerance of my own far. But that’s my own body and I think a declaration of unqualified fat positivity in general is probably more powerful and challenges more of the assumptions of fatphobia.