TY - JOUR
T1 - Teaching (and) Fat Stigma in Philosophy
AU - Rodier, Kristin
AU - Brennan, Samantha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Teaching Philosophy, 2022. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - This article draws on authors’ experiences as fat-bodied white women philosophers, empirical research about fat discrimination, and common teaching topics and practices to reflect on fat stigma in dominant forms of teaching philosophy. We situate our critique in fat studies literature, locating the “normal professor body” within eugenic social and political movements, and the transatlantic slave trade. We outline how fat stigma specifically applies to historical and contemporary forms of Western canonical teaching practices and materials. Many of the topics philosophers teach on practical rationality evoke stereotypes about fat-bodied people as bad eaters, and activate stereotype threat for fat philosophers, thus affecting performance and credibility. We offer the case of “fat man” hypotheticals in contemporary analytic ethics as cases of perpetuating stigma, thereby undermining their pedagogical efficacy. We conclude by offering recommendations for teaching in ways that mitigate the influence of fat stigmatizing stereotypes and stereotype threat for fat philosophers.
AB - This article draws on authors’ experiences as fat-bodied white women philosophers, empirical research about fat discrimination, and common teaching topics and practices to reflect on fat stigma in dominant forms of teaching philosophy. We situate our critique in fat studies literature, locating the “normal professor body” within eugenic social and political movements, and the transatlantic slave trade. We outline how fat stigma specifically applies to historical and contemporary forms of Western canonical teaching practices and materials. Many of the topics philosophers teach on practical rationality evoke stereotypes about fat-bodied people as bad eaters, and activate stereotype threat for fat philosophers, thus affecting performance and credibility. We offer the case of “fat man” hypotheticals in contemporary analytic ethics as cases of perpetuating stigma, thereby undermining their pedagogical efficacy. We conclude by offering recommendations for teaching in ways that mitigate the influence of fat stigmatizing stereotypes and stereotype threat for fat philosophers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161625894&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5840/teachphil2022711174
DO - 10.5840/teachphil2022711174
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:85161625894
SN - 0145-5788
VL - 46
SP - 189
EP - 207
JO - Teaching Philosophy
JF - Teaching Philosophy
IS - 2
ER -