Fat Activism

What is fat activism and why is it important? Charlotte Cooper, a fat activist with around 30 years experience, answers this question by lifting the lid on a previously unexplored social movement and offering a fresh perspective on one of the major problems of our times.

In her expansive grassroots study she: reveals details of fat activist methods and approaches and explodes myth; charts extensive accounts of international fat activist historical roots going back over four decades; explores controversies and tensions in the movement; shows that fat activism is an undeniably feminist and queer phenomenon, and explains why fat activism presents exciting possibilities for anyone interested in social justice.

Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement is a rare insider’s view of fat people speaking about their lives and politics on their own terms. This is the book you have been waiting for.

"Explores a long-standing social movement, revealing complex relationships with feminism, class and capitalism. Cooper provides both an account of a radical social movement and a consideration of how we might come to a broad but useful understanding of the nature of activism, through an examination of one of the less-prominent struggles of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries." - Counterfire

"An essential reference for those who want to know where the movement started and to get some ideas on where it can go from here. The breadth of Cooper’s research is amazing. Fat Activism is worth owning simply as a resource and a history of the movement." - Body Impolitic