Fat Activists: Charlotte Cooper

If you’re involved in fat liberation in the States, you may not be familiar with British fat activist Charlotte Cooper.

I hadn’t heard about Charlotte until I registered for NOLOSE this year and saw she was the keynote. Their site had a mighty impressive bio for her:

charlotte cooper

Come hear the provocative writer, zinester, and founder of the notorious Chubster gang chew the fat! Charlotte Cooper is the author of Cherry, a dyke sex novel; and Fat and Proud: The Politics of Size. Her writings have appeared in more than a dozen anthologies and zines, and you can read her columns regularly in On Our Backs and at RainbowNetwork.com.

I knew I had to read up, so I checked out Fat and Proud. It’s a great read that mixes the theoretical, practical and entertaining into an empowering, good-for-everyone read. But you thought Charlotte was limited to the realm of writing? Hell no! As mentioned in her bio, she’s the badass leader of the Chubsters, the take-no-prisoners “vicious girl gang” based out of England, but with members (including yours truly!) all over the world. She also tours and gives the most amazing, inspiring speeches (more on the one I was present for later); reviews pools the world over and posts her findings on her website; and writes hot dyke sex novels that get banned in Canada (visit her site for more info). If you haven’t heard what she’s got to say, read up, scour her website and get educated - she’s a force to be reckoned with in the fat lib movement.