{"id":3180,"date":"2011-11-08T08:22:33","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T13:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2013-07-14T16:41:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T21:41:40","slug":"relating-radically-lets-talk-about-fat-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2011\/11\/08\/relating-radically-lets-talk-about-fat-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"RELATING RADICALLY: Let’s Talk About (Fat) Sex"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Sometimes, I think it would do academic feminists good to read a little more about sex.<\/p>\n

Big Big Love, Revised: A Sex and Relationships Guide for People of Size (and Those Who Love Them)<\/a>\"\" by Hanne Blank (Celestial Arts 2011), recently released in its second edition, is written and marketed as a sex manual for fat people and their partners. \u00a0And as a sex manual, it\u2019s quite good. \u00a0But the reason why I\u2019m reviewing a sex manual on an academic feminist blog is that the book offers a perspective on fat sexuality that you\u2019re unlikely to find in any academic text, and it\u2019s a perspective worth reading.<\/p>\n

Blank\u2019s tone is cheeky, sharp, and irreverent–she dismisses criticisms of fat people and fat sexuality with a quick blast of facts and a reframing of the question. \u00a0By placing fat sexuality as a positive thing, and looking directly at the issues surrounding it, she sets an example to academics working in the areas of relationships, sexuality, feminist studies, and fat studies.<\/p>\n

Too often in academic research, it\u2019s easy to become ensnared by groupthink. \u00a0Obesity is an epidemic, for example, and can only be viewed as a problem. \u00a0Fat stigma is bad, but the solution is to attack the fat. \u00a0Why not celebrate fat people and fat sexuality instead, and attack stigma and discrimination? \u00a0Blank, who comes from an academic background, doesn\u2019t live in a fantasy-land when discussing fat sexuality, and she recognizes the problems that can arise around health, fetishism, and negative self-image, among other things. \u00a0But she\u2019s also careful to avoid the trap of generalizing.<\/p>\n

Health, for example, is addressed in the book as an issue. \u00a0Nobody should be practicing sexual gymnastics without a warm-up. \u00a0But Blank points out the fallacy of myths about fat people crushing skinnier partners, or being completely unable to move in coitus. \u00a0Whether one can achieve a particular sexual position is<\/em> related to strength, stamina, and flexibility. \u00a0In many cases, it\u2019s not related to body size alone, or volume of fatty tissue.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny that a sex manual would run into the classic academic problems of correlation versus causation, science versus assumption, but in a way it makes sense. \u00a0Bad science often evolves into popular myth. \u00a0And here, the scientists might be able to learn a little from the popular sex guide. \u00a0Feminist academics were quick to lambast recent studies claiming that black women are less attractive, or that women are naturally submissive, but many of the same academics remain on the \u201cyour fat is killing you\u201d bandwagon. \u00a0Fat is a subject that\u2019s uncomfortable because for many it\u2019s personal, and linked strongly with shame and personal history.<\/p>\n

Big Big Love<\/em> reminds us that any topic can be discussed rationally if we bring it into the light and speak its name. \u00a0Part of why it was such a big deal when it was first released is that fat sexuality wasn\u2019t a topic for positive, rational discussion. \u00a0Not among doctors, or researchers, or academics, or most everyday Joes. \u00a0Unfortunately, not much has changed outside the fat positive blogosphere. \u00a0So maybe a fat sexuality manual has nothing to do with your research, but reading it might be good for you. \u00a0It\u2019s a reminder that we study living, breathing people, and that research is not immune from popular myth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, I think it would do academic feminists good to read a little more about sex. Big Big Love, Revised: A Sex and Relationships Guide for People of Size (and Those Who Love Them) by Hanne Blank (Celestial Arts 2011), recently released in its second edition, is written and marketed as a sex manual for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1922,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21112],"tags":[21183,1716,21338,21339],"class_list":["post-3180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relating-radically","tag-big-big-love","tag-book-review","tag-fat-sex","tag-fat-sexuality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1922"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6286,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions\/6286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}