We are thrilled to announce the recent publication of an insightful article in Excessive Bodies: A Journal of Artistic and Critical Fat Praxis and Worldmaking (Volume 1)
Titled “Coalizing Against Fatmisic and Sanist Targeted Ads of Oppression,” this piece is a collaborative effort between Nicole Schott, a respected colleague at McMaster University, Faith Stadnyk, one of FIST’s MA alums, and Fady Shanouda, Assistant Professor with FIST. This article promises to catalyze transformative action in our ongoing pursuit of equity, justice, and inclusion.
You can access the article here: https://journals.library.torontomu.ca/index.php/excessivebodies/article/view/1880/1802
Abstract
“In this article, we do fat studies, mad studies, and critical eating dis/order studies (CEDS) together as methodology. Diversely positioned in relation to gender, sexuality, race, size, disability, and eating dis/orders, we engage in critical conversations across movements, building solidarities in and between our communities to coalize against fatmisia and sanism. We were galvanized to come together in this collective resistance and community building as a subversive response to our shared (research) experiences of being targeted with weight-loss and fat eradication advertisements on social media. These ads communicate that we are medical, moral, and aesthetic problems that need to be intervened upon to become healthy, worthy, and desirable–to qualify as human. Motivated by our commitments to mad-disability justice and fat liberation, we contribute the concept of targeted ads of oppression (TAO) to name the violence that is hurting us. Utilizing affect theory with attention to how our feelings matter, we define TAO and identify four typologies. Our analysis engages with the concept of “recipes” to illustrate how TAO arise from a complex mixing of five dimensions that not only facilitate the existence of TAO, but also promote the propagation of fatmisia and sanism. We conclude by presenting five strategies for mobilizing against fatmisia and offer a theoretically-informed approach for navigating the harmful and affective qualities of TAO in both online and offline settings, which may prove useful to both fat and non-fat scholars and activists interested in anti-sizeist work.”
Key words: Targeted ads, Fat studies, Sanism, Sizeism, Affect theory, Disability justice, Fat liberation, Eating disorders, Coalition,Social media, Algorithms, Mad studies
(Schott, N., Stadnyk, F., & Shanouda, F. (2023). Coalizing Against Fatmisic and Sanist Targeted Ads of Oppression. Excessive Bodies: A Journal of Artistic and Critical Fat Praxis and World Making, 1(1), 184–223. https://doi.org/10.32920/eb.v1i1.1880)