Fat Is a Feminist Issue

Fat people are so rarely included in visual culture that fat is perceived as a blot on the landscape of sleek and slim.

Today, 'fat' has become not a description of size but a moral category tainted with criticism and contempt.

Our idea of a healthy body is so destabilised that insecure people have come to bolster their own bodies by deeming others - those with fat bodies - less worthy, less capable and less employable.

No one likes to feel helpless. We find it psychologically unbearable and inside ourselves we may try to make ourselves part author of our misfortune rather than simply the recipient of it.

Beauty has been democratised. No longer the preserve of movie stars and models but available to all. But while the invitation to beauty is welcomed, it has become not so much an option as an imperative.