What bodies fit into the gender binary? In this presentation, presenters Kimmy Herman (she/her) and Em Evans (she/they) explore the ways in which gender presentation in trans and queer communities have been shaped by fatphobia. From discrimination against trans, queer, and gender-nonconforming people in large bodies by a cisheteronormative society to intercommunity struggles with diet culture, fatphobia has taken root as an invasive presence within LGBTQ+ culture. In an effort to build upon the existing work of body-neutral activists within the trans, queer, and gender-nonconforming communities, Herman and Evans will propose strengths-based solutions on micro, mezzo, and macro levels to address this urgent issue. Queer and trans activism rarely focuses on body neutrality as a central issue–however, the invasive presence of fatphobia within the LGBTQ+ community has had lasting and harmful effects. For trans, queer, and gender-nonconforming people, the consequences of fatphobia include higher rates of disordered eating, discrimination in public spaces and online, denial of gender-affirming care, and the violence of body-policing from both within and without the community. Naming and understanding the ways in which fatphobia has impacted our perceptions of ourselves and of one another is the first step that we can take towards dismantling this system of body-based oppression.
