That Thing Called Love, And The Thing Called Fat
Prerna Subramanian
Publication: Volume 1 Issue 1
Abstract
This paper discusses three spoken word poems which have narratives of people who talk of different realms, manifestations, and experiences of fat shaming. Fat-shaming has become an increasingly acknowledged world-wide issue due to the increased importance of media-represented thin bodies and the qualitative judgement that is passed on the same. Fat bodies are relegated to the margins and are excluded from dominant narratives or included through stereotyped, trivialised images. These poems are about identifying these bodies as fat and narrativizing their struggle to find a space in the arena of romantic and sexual relationships. The paper takes into account videos of performances as tools to understand politics of identity, and also analyse the medium of the performance along with the content. The paper discusses the genre of spoken-word poetry and its relation to identity and personal narratives, going on to analyse the poems distinctively through the lens of fat politics and identity, and spoken word.
Keywords: Bodies, Fat-shaming, Love, Performance, Identity, Gender, Spoken word.
Prerna Subramanian (prerna.geeta@gmail.com) is currently pursuing her M.A in Society and Culture at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinaga, India. Her research interests comprise Indian cinema, popular culture, feminist theory, transgender studies, LGBTQIA and body image studies.