This chapter illustrates an entangling and untangling of fatness at the intersection of weight and race through the auspices of Western medical discourse. Medical discourses permeate our understandings of our bodies’ functions and of how we live. These discourses quantify health, and link directly to the socio-cultural values given to different bodies. Racism produces similar discourses about the worthiness of bodies. Particular bodies are subjected to intensified judgments and misunderstandings. For example, Black bodies are subjected to anti-Black racism in many different contexts, including medical settings (Abdillahi, Meerai & Poole, 2017; Benjamin, 2003; Walcott, 2003).

Meerai, S. (2019). Taking up space in the doctor’s office: How my racialized fat body confronts medical discourse. In M. Friedman, C. Rice, & J. Rinaldi (Eds.), Thickening fat: Fat studies, intersectionality and social justice (pp. 90–96). Routledge.