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Fat and Furious

Igniting Radical Fat Resistance

Author Breanne Fahs
Narrator Victoria Connolly
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Beacon Press | Beacon Press Audio
On sale Aug 19, 2025 | 9 Hours and 16 Minutes | 9780807020982
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A bold takedown of the ways women are terrorized about fatness, and a treatise on the revolutionary power of fat fury

Anti-fatness and fat-shaming are used most often as a way to inspire fear in others about being or becoming fat. Scholar and therapist Breanne Fahs breaks down how the dread of fatness is used to control and capitalize on women’s fears of their unruly bodies and demonstrates how rejecting shame and instead igniting feelings of anger can help us collectively move towards justice.

Weaving together the voices of fat people and activists with damning psychological and sociological evidence, Fahs chronicles how fat oppression and fear-mongering impacts every aspect of our lives, from media representation to workplace and healthcare discrimination to the problem with body positivity movements, and even how we handle fat death. She argues that rage, or fat fury, becomes the necessary antidote to the resignation and powerlessness that anti-fatness so often generates.

Illuminating and infuriating, Fahs intertwines the personal and systemic impacts of anti-fatness and calls on all of us—fatter and thinner alike—to reflect and revolt.
“Fat and Furious is fiery, formidable, and feminist. In utterly readable and compelling prose, Fahs brilliantly breaks down the systems that stigmatize and terrorize fat bodies, while documenting and generating an incisive strategy of ‘guttural resistance.’ I love this most necessary book.”
—Jane Caputi, author of Call Your “Mutha’”

“It’s impossible to imagine anyone reading this book without taking on the much-needed fury that the title suggests. An unflinching, thorough, and urgent examination of one of our culture’s most toxic social issues.”
—Virgie Tovar, author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat

“Fahs refuses the tired claim that ‘too much’ is ‘less than.’ The way forward is not rooted in chirpy body positivity but by boldly facing the facts and feeling the fury. This book is the unapologetic guttural call to claim the space we deserve.”
—Chris Bobel, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, UMass Boston

“This book is Fahs’s magnificent octopus—by which I mean her magnum opus, but with fabulously functional intersectional tentacles, shimmeringly smart shape-shifting, and possessing insight and abilities we can only begin to fathom for fueling a more just world. Engaging and beautifully written, Fat and Furious will deeply enrich readers’ understanding of not only of fatness but of difference and solidarity.”
—Kimberly Dark, author of Fat, Pretty and Soon to Be Old

“Breanne Fahs has masterfully tapped into the power of emotion and its role in structuring fatphobia. This book made me feel seen, empowered, and, most importantly, furious for the change needed for fat future. If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed by the barrage of fat hatred, or looking for some direction, this book is for you!”
—Caleb Luna, author of REVENGE BODY

“Through astute scholarship and interviews, Fahs compellingly documents the complex emotional experiences of fatness—from terror to vulnerability—illustrating that fatness is a weapon of sexism that works alongside other oppressive systems. Fat and Furious is insightful and illuminating—an unabashed, essential, and persuasive call to resist fat bias and discrimination.”
—Samantha Kwan, author of Under the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery, Boundary Work, and the Pursuit of the Natural Fake
Breanne Fahs is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University, where she specializes in studying women's sexuality, critical embodiment studies, feminist histories, and political activism. She has authored many books, including most recently Unshaved and Burn It Down! Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution. She is the founder and director of the Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group at Arizona State University, and she also works as a clinical psychologist in private practice.
Breanne Fahs View titles by Breanne Fahs
INTRODUCTION
On Becoming Fat and Furious

PART ONE: THE TERROR OF FATNESS

CHAPTER 1
The Terror of Fat Futures: Thin Women Imagine Weight Gain

CHAPTER 2
“Lazy, Unmotivated, Depressed, Sexless, Overeating, and Emotional”: Fat Women Confront and Grapple with Fat Stereotypes

PART TWO: BEING FAT IN PUBLIC

CHAPTER 3
Finding a “Better You”: How the Wellness Industry Frames Fatness as the Ultimate Failure

CHAPTER 4
Heavy Lifting: Fatness, Capitalism, and Workplace Stigma

PART THREE: FAT VULNERABILITY

CHAPTER 5
The Specter of Fat Death

CHAPTER 6
On Fat Vulnerability

PART FOUR: THE NECESSITY OF FAT FURY

CHAPTER 7
Guttural Resistance: Ranting About Fatness While Poor, Black, Disabled, or Queer

CHAPTER 8
Fat Fury: Transforming Rage into Radical Fat Resistance

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About

A bold takedown of the ways women are terrorized about fatness, and a treatise on the revolutionary power of fat fury

Anti-fatness and fat-shaming are used most often as a way to inspire fear in others about being or becoming fat. Scholar and therapist Breanne Fahs breaks down how the dread of fatness is used to control and capitalize on women’s fears of their unruly bodies and demonstrates how rejecting shame and instead igniting feelings of anger can help us collectively move towards justice.

Weaving together the voices of fat people and activists with damning psychological and sociological evidence, Fahs chronicles how fat oppression and fear-mongering impacts every aspect of our lives, from media representation to workplace and healthcare discrimination to the problem with body positivity movements, and even how we handle fat death. She argues that rage, or fat fury, becomes the necessary antidote to the resignation and powerlessness that anti-fatness so often generates.

Illuminating and infuriating, Fahs intertwines the personal and systemic impacts of anti-fatness and calls on all of us—fatter and thinner alike—to reflect and revolt.

Reviews

“Fat and Furious is fiery, formidable, and feminist. In utterly readable and compelling prose, Fahs brilliantly breaks down the systems that stigmatize and terrorize fat bodies, while documenting and generating an incisive strategy of ‘guttural resistance.’ I love this most necessary book.”
—Jane Caputi, author of Call Your “Mutha’”

“It’s impossible to imagine anyone reading this book without taking on the much-needed fury that the title suggests. An unflinching, thorough, and urgent examination of one of our culture’s most toxic social issues.”
—Virgie Tovar, author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat

“Fahs refuses the tired claim that ‘too much’ is ‘less than.’ The way forward is not rooted in chirpy body positivity but by boldly facing the facts and feeling the fury. This book is the unapologetic guttural call to claim the space we deserve.”
—Chris Bobel, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, UMass Boston

“This book is Fahs’s magnificent octopus—by which I mean her magnum opus, but with fabulously functional intersectional tentacles, shimmeringly smart shape-shifting, and possessing insight and abilities we can only begin to fathom for fueling a more just world. Engaging and beautifully written, Fat and Furious will deeply enrich readers’ understanding of not only of fatness but of difference and solidarity.”
—Kimberly Dark, author of Fat, Pretty and Soon to Be Old

“Breanne Fahs has masterfully tapped into the power of emotion and its role in structuring fatphobia. This book made me feel seen, empowered, and, most importantly, furious for the change needed for fat future. If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed by the barrage of fat hatred, or looking for some direction, this book is for you!”
—Caleb Luna, author of REVENGE BODY

“Through astute scholarship and interviews, Fahs compellingly documents the complex emotional experiences of fatness—from terror to vulnerability—illustrating that fatness is a weapon of sexism that works alongside other oppressive systems. Fat and Furious is insightful and illuminating—an unabashed, essential, and persuasive call to resist fat bias and discrimination.”
—Samantha Kwan, author of Under the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery, Boundary Work, and the Pursuit of the Natural Fake

Author

Breanne Fahs is Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University, where she specializes in studying women's sexuality, critical embodiment studies, feminist histories, and political activism. She has authored many books, including most recently Unshaved and Burn It Down! Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution. She is the founder and director of the Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group at Arizona State University, and she also works as a clinical psychologist in private practice.
Breanne Fahs View titles by Breanne Fahs

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
On Becoming Fat and Furious

PART ONE: THE TERROR OF FATNESS

CHAPTER 1
The Terror of Fat Futures: Thin Women Imagine Weight Gain

CHAPTER 2
“Lazy, Unmotivated, Depressed, Sexless, Overeating, and Emotional”: Fat Women Confront and Grapple with Fat Stereotypes

PART TWO: BEING FAT IN PUBLIC

CHAPTER 3
Finding a “Better You”: How the Wellness Industry Frames Fatness as the Ultimate Failure

CHAPTER 4
Heavy Lifting: Fatness, Capitalism, and Workplace Stigma

PART THREE: FAT VULNERABILITY

CHAPTER 5
The Specter of Fat Death

CHAPTER 6
On Fat Vulnerability

PART FOUR: THE NECESSITY OF FAT FURY

CHAPTER 7
Guttural Resistance: Ranting About Fatness While Poor, Black, Disabled, or Queer

CHAPTER 8
Fat Fury: Transforming Rage into Radical Fat Resistance

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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