The Hyper(in)visible Fat Woman (Weight and Gender Discourse in Contemporary Society)

In The Hyper(in)visible Fat Woman, Jeannine A. Gailey argues that women of size in North America occupy a paradoxical social position: as 'fat' women they receive exceptional (critical) attention, while simultaneously their subjectivity—in terms of their own needs, desires, and lives—is erased. In this way their experience veers painfully between the hypervisible and the hyperinvisible. Gailey seeks to explore this apparent paradox through a multidimensional analysis of in-depth interviews with 74 women of size, focusing on subjects such as dieting, health, sex and dating, and identity with the women's experiences and voices at the forefront. In doing so Gailey highlights the ways some women are able to successfully subvert the dominant discourse. The resulting book fills a significant gap in the literature by emphasizing women's own experiences, and by developing a much-needed conceptual framework for analyzing marginalized bodies.