By Jason Whitesel
To be fats in a thin-obsessed homosexual tradition might be tough. regardless of affectionate in-group monikers for large homosexual men–chubs, bears, cubs–the anti-fat stigma that persists in American tradition at huge nonetheless haunts those people who usually exist on the margins of homosexual groups. In fats homosexual males, Jason Whitesel delves into the realm of Girth & Mirth, a nationally identified social membership devoted to great homosexual males, illuminating the ways that those males shape identities and neighborhood within the face of adversity. In life for over 40 years, the membership has lengthy been a safe haven and ‘safe house’ for such males. either a partial insider as a homosexual guy and an intruder to Girth & Mirth, Whitesel bargains an insider’s critique of the homosexual move, wondering no matter if the social results of the failure to be height-weight proportionate might be so severe within the homosexual community.
This e-book files performances at membership occasions and examines how members use allusion and campy-queer habit to reconfigure and reclaim their sullied physique pictures, targeting the various tensions of marginalization and dignity that giant homosexual males event and the way they negotiate those tensions through their club to a size-positive crew. in keeping with ethnographic interviews and in-depth box notes from greater than a hundred occasions at bar nights, café klatches, eating places, potlucks, vacation bashes, pool events, motion picture nights, and weekend retreats, the ebook explores the woundedness that comes from being relegated to an inferior place in homosexual hierarchies, and but celebrates how a few homosexual males can reposition the disgrace of fats stigma via carnival, camp, and play. A compelling and wealthy narrative, fats homosexual males offers an extraordinary glimpse into an unexplored measurement of weight and physique picture in American tradition.
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Additional resources for Fat Gay Men: Girth, Mirth, and the Politics of Stigma
Example text
Insisting on euphemisms for fat may be a cop-out on the part of Girth & Mirthers, as they are rejecting the term used by other groups to politicize. Nevertheless, the speaker still grapples with apologetics, as do I in this book. On the one hand, as a participant observer in the group, I have an emic tendency to use words like big or chub to refer to the Girth & Mirthers as they themselves would; on the other hand, when I am making more analytical statements as an outsider, I have an etic tendency to use the word fat, as I have been significantly influenced by fat studies and fat activism.
Along these lines, though, I don’t find super-chubs attractive. Bottom line: personality-wise, you can have the best personality in the world, but if you’re very, very, very large, a lot bigger than I am, I probably would not be attracted to you. . As this big man articulated it, fat at its extreme skews gender perceptions, and one’s taste for body types bigger than one’s own has its limits. ” So, there appears to be a hierarchy even among big gay men that leads to within-group injuries, as well.
Terminology like “gay,” “faggot” (and among African-Americans, “niggah”)—just like the black community, we can call each other those terms, but woe to those not in the community who call us that. ” How people describe things when they play online or strike up a conversation online seems relevant. You’re not going to get any response if you say you’re fat. “Husky” or “chubby” is OK. ” And the conversation degenerates from there [he says with a knowing smile]. Insisting on euphemisms for fat may be a cop-out on the part of Girth & Mirthers, as they are rejecting the term used by other groups to politicize.