Winner 2020 Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award given by the American Sociological
Association Honorable Mention 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award given
by the American Sociological Association How the female body has been racialized for over two
hundred years There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor black women are
particularly stigmatized as "diseased? and a burden on the public health care system. This is
only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat black women which Sabrina Strings shows
took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical
narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment analyzing important works of art
newspaper and magazine articles and scientific literature and medical journals?where fat
bodies were once praised?showing that fat phobia as it relates to black women did not
originate with medical findings but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was
evidence of "savagery? and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal
of slenderness is at its very core racialized and racist. Indeed it was not until the early
twentieth century when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the
culture that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and
original work Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at
all but rather a means of using the body to validate race class and gender prejudice.
