‘Failures, Futures and the Queerness of Fat Sex’
Francis Ray White (University of Westminster)
London Medical Sociology Group meeting
Wednesday 24th June 6-7pm
Abstract: In the context of the obesity ‘epidemic’ fat people’s sex lives are cast as sterile, sexually dysfunctional or just plain non-existent. This paper analyzes medical discourses of obesity and sex in order to argue that fat sex is constructed as a type of failure. Using insights from antisocial queer theory, fat sex is further shown to be queer in its failure to adhere to the specifically heteronormative dictates of what Edelman (2004) calls ‘reproductive futurism’. The analysis finally engages with Halberstam’s (2011) notion of queer failure to demonstrate how deconstructing notions of success and failure might offer fat political projects new ways to imagine the future of fat sex.
We will follow the seminar with a trip to a nearby pub. Everyone is welcome to attend. So please join us for what should be a very interesting evening.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Room G14 (Jerry Morris B), 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH. Nearest train/tube stations: Russell Square, Euston and Kings Cross.
Contact: Lorelei Jones and Oliver Bonnington