Juxtaposing contested bodies: What can be learned from the politics of weightism and of women’s exclusion

Abstract

ABSTRACT A significant stream in fat studies scholarship explores its relationship with other fields of critical theory that scrutinize the marginalization of stigmatized bodies. Engaging with sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism, fat studies reflect on the concepts, critiques, and strategies employed to achieve equality and respect for all bodies. This essay contributes to this vein of scholarship by juxtaposing two seemingly remote topics: weightism in the United States and the global north and the treatment of the female body in the context of the tensions between religious accommodation and gender equality. Societies worldwide have increasingly faced tensions regarding religion and gender in civic contexts. These dilemmas are explored here through the case of religiously motivated sex-based segregation in the public sphere in Israel. Mapping the commonalities and intersections between these two arenas provides new insights into the politics of contested bodies and the path to change. The comparison reveals that in their respective contexts, fat bodies and women’s bodies are often framed as unruly and impure, bearing personal responsibility for their alleged plights. In both cases, the restraint of these bodies is deemed central to national unity and collective resilience, and their symbolic presence is to be erased or minimized. Additionally, the essay underscores the complexities of naming and politicizing the issues vis-à-vis de-politicization efforts. Finally, it addresses the challenge of balancing deontological and instrumentalist arguments in promoting justice and the oversimplified understanding of choice that governs the discourses in both arenas.