Headless fatty

Headless fatty is a term coined by activist Charlotte Cooper which refers to photographs or video of anonymous fat people used in news media stories about obesity. The term was created in 2007 when Cooper first noticed the trend in anxiety-laden news coverage of the Global Obesity Epidemic and the War on Obesity. A “headless fatty” photograph features one or more fat person, usually in a public place and unaware of being photographed, with his or her head cropped out of the image. Cooper argues that this representation of fat people is dehumanizing, decontextualizing, and results in the continued disenfranchisement of fat people.

Symbolism
Cooper argues that the headless fatty is harmful to the self-image of fat people and to public perception of fat people; these images force fat people to see themselves in the anonymous images and induces shame for the viewer as well as the subject. Moreover, the lack of a face makes the subject no longer a person, but a symbol. As Cooper writes:

"As Headless Fatties, the body becomes symbolic: we are there but we have no voice, not even a mouth in a head, no brain, no thoughts or opinions. Instead we are reduced and dehumanised as symbols of cultural fear: the body, the belly, the arse, food. There’s a symbolism, too, in the way that the people in these photographs have been beheaded. It’s as though we have been punished for existing, our right to speak has been removed by a prurient gaze, our headless images accompany articles that assume a world without people like us would be a better world altogether."

Although the bulk of the essay focuses on symbolically decapitated subjects, Cooper indicates that images where the subject’s head has not been cropped out are often still problematic representations of fat people as their faces are usually obscured or turned away as if they are criminals. Cooper’s essay is accompanied by example photos she found in a simple Google search. Most of the images in the essay are watermarked by Getty Images, a leading supplier of stock images.

Usage
Since Cooper’s identification of the trend, “headless fatty” has been taken up as a stereotype and trope by scholars in fat studies as well as activists in the fat acceptance movement. Much of the work in these areas seeks to subvert the headless fatty by recontextualizing and rehumanizing the body.

Online Activism
The fatosphere, an online community of fat activist bloggers, has taken the headless fatty as a call to action for a new representation of fatness. Some bloggers have responded by showing their own bodies, including their heads and faces, engaged in activities, such as dancing, while others have expanded Cooper’s commentary on the effects the trope has on fat people and the public perception of fat people. Some bloggers have also provided accounts of seeing themselves as headless fatties in newscasts.

Scholarship
Scholarship in fat studies, rhetoric, and sociology has sought to explore the societal implications of the use of the headless fatty on macro and micro levels and to explore the ways in which activists have worked to subvert the trope.

One recent study focusing on the social effects of the “headless fatty” found that these images, and images like them, compound fat women’s already negative view of themselves and their bodies. According to the study, “The dissatisfaction and shame that participants felt about their bodies were constantly reinforced by the views of others, and the anti-fat messages they received from every corner of society – including friends and family members, the media and government”

Since its launch in 2012, the interdisciplinary scholarly journal Fat Studies has featured several articles that take up questions of visual representation, stigma, and ethics surrounding the continued use of the headless fatty. Articles have focused on the transgressive possibilities of fat art and efforts to replace headless fatty stock photographs with fat positive stock photos.