Shared Vulnerability – Collectivity and Empathy in Media Reflections of a Finnish theater Monologue FAT

Abstract

<p>This article utilizes the concept of “shared vulnerability” to analyze media reflections of a Finnish fat activist monologue FAT. In texts, pictures, and sounds on FAT, gaps between differently-sized women are stitched up and a feeling of an allwomen’s community is offered as a solution to hurtful experiences. I argue that shared vulnerability can signal a welcomed realization of previously hidden privileges on the part of the more normative subject. Yet, talking about shared vulnerability risks ironing out fat women’s experiences by decentering them<br />or displacing them with those of more-normatively-sized women.<br /></p>