Theorizing fat oppression: Intersectional approaches and methodological innovations

The oppression of fat people is built into institutions, pervades the cultural landscape, and affects the relationships and perceptions of people of size. In this introduction to the special issue on fat oppression, we examine the concept of oppression and its place in fat studies before reviewing the extant literature on fat oppression. We also discuss how the articles chosen for this issue contribute to the existing theoretical and empirical understanding of fat oppression. We conclude by encouraging scholarship that utilizes diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the oppression of fat people.