Episode 207 - How Anti-Blackness Created Anti-Fatness

Thanks to the work of Black scholars, including Dr. Sabrina Strings, we know that anti-fatness comes from anti-Blackness as well as other oppressive forces. But WHY were certain beliefs about Black bodies created? Who started the myths, and what were they saying? How do those stereotypes about fat Black bodies manifest today? We are going back thousands of years to see where all this nonsense started. Using a variety of sources, including, of course, the go-to book for talking about this Fear of the Black Body by Sabrina Strings, as well as Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun L. Harrison, and concepts from bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, and more. TW: O words, anti-Blackness, slavery, sexism, brief mention of sexual assault, general white fuckery.

Links

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Caitlin Doughty. (2018, October 19). ICONIC CORPSE- Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRZMN6LqeCU

Diet Culture Timeline. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2026, from https://dietculturetimeline.com/

Drapetomania—2005—Question of the Month—Jim Crow Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2026, from https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2005/november.htm

Harrison, D. (2021, April 28). “Belly of the Beast” Excerpt: The War on Drugs and The War on Obesity. Da’Shaun L. Harrison. https://dashaunharrison.com/belly-of-the-beast-excerpt-the-war-on-drugs-and-the-war-on-obesity/

Hartman, S. V., Taylor, K.-Y., Fuentes, M. J., & Haley, S. (2022). Scenes of subjection: Terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America (Revised and updated paperback edition). W.W. Norton & Company.

Hill Collins, P. (2026). Black feminist thought. Routledge.

Hooks, B. (2001). Ain’t I a woman: Black women and feminism (Nachdr.). Pluto Press.

Owen, L. J. (2007). Consuming Bodies: Fatness, Sexuality, and the Protestant Ethic. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4gw1m18r

Strings, S. (2019). Fearing the black body: The racial origins of fat phobia. New York University Press.

Strings, S. (2020, May 25). Opinion | It’s Not Obesity. It’s Slavery. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/coronavirus-race-obesity.html

The Racist Origins of Fatphobia- BUST. (n.d.). The Racist Origins of Fatphobia. Retrieved June 11, 2026, from https://bust.com/feminism/196525-racist-origins-of-fatphobia.html

The significance of Sarah Baartman. (2016, January 7). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35240987

Welsby, V. (2020, June 9). Episode 33: How Fatphobia Stemmed from Racism. Fierce Fatty. https://fiercefatty.com/033

Welsby, V. (2023a, February 14). Episode 157: Intergenerational Food Trauma. Fierce Fatty. https://fiercefatty.com/157

Welsby, V. (2023b, March 26). Diet Culture, and Religion. Fierce Fatty. https://fiercefatty.com/blog/diet-culture-and-religion

Wilson, J. P., Hugenberg, K., & Rule, N. O. (2017). Racial bias in judgments of physical size and formidability: From size to threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000092

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