Fatphobia as a form of gender-based violence: Fat women, public space and body belonging work

In this article, we propose bringing together theoretical frameworks from fat studies and research into street harassment, as a form of gendered violence, to provide a novel lens for thinking about fat women’s experiences of public space. By focusing on the gendered politics of public space itself, we show how fears of fat-based and gender-based street harassment and abuse work together to create a complex sense of “non-belonging” for fat women. Coupled with primary interview data gathered from twenty-one self-defined fat women, our approach brings together theoretical frameworks from fat studies and research into street harassment to provide a novel lens for thinking about fat women’s experiences of public space. Specifically, we identify and explore points of confluence where experiences of fatphobia and street harassment mirror each other – exclusion from public space, intrusion as a means of policing non-belonging bodies, and what we call body belonging work as an active process of accomplishing belonging. We suggest that current policy attention to gender-based violence represents a timely moment to address the intersectional nature of women’s experiences.