The daily experience of fatness in a digital context

As social movements emerge online to combat all forms of body stigmatization, and digital platforms contribute to raising the visibility of fatness, this article examines the contradictions and ambivalences of this reshaping of perceptions of women who present themselves as fat, and the persistent difficulties of acceptance they still face today. To this end, it draws on a qualitative methodology based on interviews with women who identify as fat (or have identified as such at some point in their lives) and who follow creators of fatness-related content on social media. The findings show that while a participatory culture is indeed developing online – contributing notably to a better representation of fatness and the creation of a protective and informed community on the subject –, the views held about fat female bodies, including those sometimes held by the respondents themselves, struggle to break free from value judgements and social classifications heavily influenced by those constructed offline.