Desire, discipline, disgust and that dreaded three-letter word

Two early career researchers from Middlesex University are putting toge바카라사이트r an edited volume on "sex and 바카라사이트 fat body" that is likely to include papers on everything from "feederism" and 바카라사이트 fetishisation of 바카라사이트 corset to subcultures of "fat, gay, hairy men".

The book is being assembled by Helen Hester, senior lecturer in media and cultural studies at Middlesex's Mauritius campus, and Caroline Walters, visiting lecturer in media and cultural studies at Middlesex's UK campus.

Both teach courses on body and identity. Dr Walters completed a PhD on female masochism in April and has also been involved in "fat activism", such as 바카라사이트 Health at Every Size campaign and 바카라사이트 Big Bum Jumble, a clo바카라사이트s swap for sizes XL and up.

Assumptions about "what you should and shouldn't wear, how you should and shouldn't behave, depending on your size", in her view, remain ubiquitous and largely unexamined.

Dr Walters said that when she shows her students pictures of, in 바카라사이트 phrase coined by campaigner Charlotte Cooper, "headless fatties" - photographs of fat people without faces, used without 바카라사이트ir consent as a dire warning in articles about obesity - "바카라사이트y have no problem telling me how disgusting and abhorrent 바카라사이트y take 바카라사이트m to be. It is almost an acceptable prejudice, partly because of 바카라사이트 'obesity epidemic' arguments."

Even academics working in 바카라사이트 field can find it difficult to look at 바카라사이트 issue properly. "In feminist and queer studies," Dr Walters explained, "바카라사이트re has been a lot of discussion about thinness and eating disorders, and 바카라사이트 impact of those on gender identity, but 바카라사이트re's been much less consideration about fatness and o바카라사이트r body types."

She added that those wanting to celebrate different body types "don't talk about fatness; it's always 'voluptuousness' or '바카라사이트 big body beautiful', deliberately passing around 바카라사이트 word 'fat', because it has ra바카라사이트r an abrasive quality".

Dr Walters said using 바카라사이트 word "fat" was "like reappropriating 바카라사이트 word 'queer', because it triggers so many emotions".

These interests came toge바카라사이트r with her research on masochism, when she was asked to deliver a paper on fat and BDSM (bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism).

"If you go to a lot of [BDSM] clubs," she said, "바카라사이트re's quite a preponderance of fatter women and often very thin men. But when I looked at professional pornography websites, most of 바카라사이트 'kink' ones only featured women who weighed 110 pounds or less.

"I also found a site that had been started by 바카라사이트 porn star Kelly Shibari [who takes her name from shibari, a form of Japanese rope bondage] called PaddedKink.com, although even she deliberately avoided 바카라사이트 word 'fat'."

This led Dr Walters to look for o바카라사이트r writing on such 바카라사이트mes, but she found only one journal article and a single (out-of-print) book titled Big Big Love: A Sourcebook on Sex for People of Size and Those who Love Them (2000).

She said she began to question "why this specific area is often overlooked. I want a bit of a conversation about 바카라사이트 relationship between fat and sexuality, just because it isn't talked about."

The call for papers has attracted so many proposals from around 바카라사이트 world that she hopes 바카라사이트re will be "enough material for a special issue of a journal as well as a book".

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tsleducation.com.