We’re thrilled to launch our #FatJoy campaign, highlighting the lived experiences of fat individuals in urban India. This campaign is a space to share, reflect, and challenge the dominant narratives around fatness—centering joy, resistance, and collective care.
What is #FatJoy?
Built off of our research (launching soon!), #FatJoy explores how fat bodies navigate urban spaces—from inaccessible infrastructure and medical discrimination to harmful social stigma. Through interviews and focus group discussions with our community, we’ve uncovered both the challenges of being fat in urban India and the profound moments of fat joy that emerge parallelly.
Fat joy is a term describing positive emotional experiences and expressions specific to individuals who identify as fat. It encompasses feelings of happiness, pride, empowerment, and contentment related to one’s fat identity. The term ‘fat joy‘ in the context of the study suggests that despite pervasive anti-fat bias and stigma in various societal structures (such as institutions, relationships, and cultural norms), individuals still find moments of joy and positivity related to their fatness. This could include feeling comfortable in their own bodies, finding joy in community and support networks of other fat individuals, or celebrating cultural aspects associated with fatness that are positive, such as cultural identity or affluence in certain contexts.
Our Research on Fatness in Urban India
Our #FatJoy campaign stems from the narratives we uncovered through our research study on fatness in urban India. The genesis of conducting a research study that explores the experience of fatness in urban India was the professional, and sometimes personal, experiences of our team members, in providing healing and access to justice services against discrimination, bias, and violence. Here, we uncovered specific unique forms of hidden violence and discrimination against fat people that were often not articulated or recognized due to a persistent sense of shame and stigma alongside a deep sense of internalized fatphobia.
This report, using a combination of literature review and firsthand accounts, amplifies the narratives of fat people navigating identity, discrimination, and resilience in urban India. By focusing on lived experiences, we set out with one hope: to challenge dominant narratives, reveal hidden biases, and highlight how fatness is performed and regulated in various contexts. However, we didn’t want to stop at just identifying the challenges. It was essential for us to provide concrete, actionable steps to dismantle fatphobia across multiple levels: spanning healthcare, policy, and everyday interactions.
This study isn’t just a research document. It’s a tool for action. Fat people continue to face systemic bias and everyday discrimination, limiting their access to spaces, resources, and opportunities. Addressing this requires a shift in how policies are made, how services are designed, and how conversations around fatness take place.
This report is an invitation to imagine a just world for all bodies.
Is fatphobia just a personal bias? How does it show up in everyday life?
📖 Read more about this in our blog here:
Fatness Liberation Circle
What does it mean to be fat in India? How do we navigate joy, desire, belonging, and resistance in a world that tries to shrink us?
As part of this campaign, we hosted a Fatness Liberation Circle—an intentional space to reflect, share, and connect. Together, we explored questions like: What does it mean to be fat in India? How do we navigate joy, desire, belonging, and resistance in a world that often tries to shrink us?
These conversations are just the beginning as we continue to create spaces for dialogue, community, and collective reflection.
Panel on Fatness in Urban India
We also hosted a powerful panel discussion on Fatness in Urban India! Featuring speakers from across sectors, this panel deep dived into the intersections of fatness, urban design, public health, and social perceptions.
This panel discussion brought together diverse voices and expertise to unpack the complexities of fatness, stigma, and resistance in India. We engaged in critical reflections on the intersections of fatness with urban life, medical infrastructure, public spaces, and cultural narratives. Together, our panellists shared personal experiences and professional insights, interrogating systemic biases and imagining pathways to a more inclusive future for all bodies. Our key (re)learning this month as we launch this important study is that fostering well-being and care for fat individuals is not just a matter of personal choice but a structural necessity. The barriers to inclusion, whether in healthcare, public spaces, or workplace policies, are deeply embedded in systems that must be challenged and reimagined to create a world where all bodies are valued and supported.
Is desire really personal, or is it shaped by the world around us?
📖 Read more about this in our blog here:
The Fat Joy Archive
Whose stories about fatness do you see more often? Whose voices are heard when it comes to fatness in South Asia? Welcome to the Fat Joy Archive – a space dedicated to preserving and showcasing the lived experiences of fat individuals across South Asia. This archive is dedicated to creating a space where fat people get to tell their own stories. By documenting these stories authentically, this archive aims to highlight the diversity of fat experiences and ensure that fat people get to to narrate their own journeys.
⭐️ Our goal is simple: to contribute to a more complete understanding of fatness in South Asia through the voices of those who live it.
💌 DM us at @thefatjoyarchive on Instagram to share your story of living as a fat person in South Asia today, to get featured on the archive!
Join the conversation. Engage. Resist. Celebrate. Because fat joy is radical, and we’re claiming it.