Charlotte Cooper (born 1968) is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based British writer and outspoken advocate for

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

and fat acceptance.

Biography

She describes herself as "queer, from a working-class background, white, middle-aged, and have a load of higher education. I have

poly Poly, from the Greek πολύς meaning "many" or "much", may refer to: Businesses * China Poly Group Corporation, a Chinese business group, and its subsidiaries: ** Poly Property, a Hong Kong incorporated Chinese property developer ** Poly Real ...

relationships and am sort-of

femme ''Femme'' (; , literally meaning "woman") is a term traditionally used to describe a lesbian who exhibits a feminine identity or gender presentation. Alternate meanings of the word also exist with some non-lesbian individuals using the word, ...

". Cooper is both an academic and mainstream author. She has published articles in academic journals such as '' Disability and Society'' and is herself a board member of ''Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society''. She has written many articles on fat acceptance and gay rights issues for websites, magazines and newspapers, including ''

Diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is cl ...

'', the UK's leading lesbian magazine, and UK national newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Cooper is also news editor for RainbowNetwork.com, the largest gay and lesbian portal in the UK. She is a prolific author of

zines A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very smal ...

and performs in the

queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifical ...

band Homosexual Death Drive. Charlotte Cooper describes her approach to fat activism:

I challenge biomedical discourse on fat through my activism. Many fat activists are interested in countering
obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
discourse claims, but my interests are in creating communities and cultures, and in documenting fat activist histories, that are somewhat autonomous and exist beyond the boundaries of medicalisation... It does not answer to biomedical discourse, it is something else entirely that is built on the creativity and sheer badassery of fat people. It shows that there are other ways of thinking about fat, and embodying fatness.

Cooper's 2002 novel, ''Cherry'', about a young woman's experience and discovery of

lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fema ...

, attracted controversy when copies were impounded by Canadian Customs officers. Reasons given were the scenes of fisting and

golden showers Urolagnia (also urophilia, and, more colloquially, a golden shower or watersports) associates sexual excitement with the sight or thought of urine or urination, and may also refer to such behaviours or acts. It is a paraphilia. The term has o ...

. In 2007, Cooper coined the term "headless fatty" to describe negative media representations of fat people. In 2010, Cooper was a Government of Ireland

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

scholar at

Limerick University The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance wi ...

where she wrote a history of the fat activist movement in which she argued that it is closely allied with the

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

movement and, like it, has undergone waves of activity. Cooper has co-produced a number of events with fat activism themes including 'The Fat of the Land', 'Big Bum Jumble' and 2012's 'Fattylympics', a protest against both attitudes to fat and the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, held in Stratford, where she lives.

Books

* ''Fat and Proud: The Politics of Size'' (1998, ) * ''Cherry'' (2002, ) * ''Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement'' (2016, ) * ''Fat Activist Vernacular'' (2019, )

Journal articles

* * * * *

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Charlotte 1968 births 21st-century British novelists British lesbian writers Living people English LGBT rights activists Fat acceptance activists English LGBT novelists British women novelists 21st-century British women writers Polyamorous people 21st-century LGBT people

Biography

Books

Journal articles

See also

References

External links