Whitesel refines Erving Goffman’s (1963) concept of stigma through consideration of the performative strategies of carnival and camp that “Girth & Mirthers” employ to reinterpret their lives and transform the wounds they receive from a world that fails to accept them as they are. Originating in the 1970s, the organization serves multiple functions: as a social group for members to find friends, a dining club, and a “normalizing group” (21) whose presence and activities challenge the stigmatization its members experience on an everyday basis. Drawing on fat studies, disability studies, research on performance, and the sociology of stigma, the author examines the club in order to understand how members of a doubly marginalized group reconstruct their identities in the face of discrimination.Ĭhapter 1 outlines the history and purpose of Girth & Mirth.
In Fat Gay Men, Jason Whitesel explores Girth & Mirth, a social club for big gay men with chapters in many US cities.
