What's it about?
It talks about everyday hassle that fat people get, material that has since become standard talk show fare. It identifies red herrings about fat people and health and suggests that everybody should challenge the way that fat has been medicalised. In the last section the book outlines the activities and beliefs of a number of initiatives and groups dedicated to ending fatphobia, it also charts the history of the fat lib movement and argues that even now there could be a viable civil rights movement of fat people.

Read an extract.

How did you come to write it?
I did a masters' degree at the University of East London in the early 90s. I wrote a dissertation comparing the emerging fat rights movement in the UK and the US with earlier civil rights movements, especially disability rights under the Social Model. I was also trying - and failing - to get a group for fat women going. The Women's Press were looking for an author for a book on fat politics, so I submitted a proposal and they commissioned me.

What's your favourite part?
I loved interviewing all the women who took part, they were fabulous, interesting, funny and thoughtful. I also enjoyed trashing standard thinking about fat, especially the book Fat Is A Feminist Issue and truisms, about how fat people are intrinsically disordered, that they always have problems with food, that "other cultures appreciate the fuller figure," and loads of other things too. I also like the anger in the book, it really takes no prisoners!

I heard some bits were cut, is that true?
Editing, cutting, rearranging, reconsidering and re-writing are a normal part of publishing a book. However, The Women's Press refused to publish an early draft of the book unless certain political things that they disagreed with were removed. These included:

• Any reference to the word "queer," including instances where I described myself as queer.
• Any references that referred to SM or pornography in positive terms, including my beloved FaT GiRL zine.
• Any criticisms of radical lesbian feminism.
• A quote from one of my interviewees who said that some fat women are responsible for their own oppression.

I changed these things, under pressure from the editors, because, after several years of working on the project, I wanted to see the book published and because I believed they were the best people to do it. I was very young and inexperienced.

How was it received?
It got a lot of publicity, the AP picked it up, it made the broadsheets and the tabloids, it was a cover story on the Big Issue and I was invited onto Woman's Hour. There was a huge discussion piece on it in the Modern Review. It was amazing and wonderful to me that people took it seriously and bothered to debate the points in it, because I had been working so long under the assumption that my ideas were mad! It got placed on university reading lists and I continue to get fan mail, student's questions and press enquiries about it.

Sometimes I get a letter like this and it makes my day:
Hi Charlotte,
I am so excited to meet you finally. Your book is my bible. I am basing a lot of my work for my PhD dissertation in Women's Studies on it and the theories of Pretty Porky and Pissed Off are deeply deeply indebted to you. You are a hero and role model to me.
Sincerely, Allyson Mitchell

What do you think about the book now?
I don't feel much in the way of ownership over it, and I feel that I have moved on in many ways, not least in the fact that after working with The Women's Press it's unlikely I would refer to myself as a feminist any more. I cringe when I think of people reading it imagining me as some Millie Tant-type loon, even recently someone who had never met me made a veiled reference to it and me as "fascist"! I think a lot of reviewers made up their minds about what the book was about before they even read it, and there were many examples where "Cooper said..." and "Cooper thinks..." things that I never said, wrote or thought. For the record: I don't hate thin people, and I'm not going to bully you if you lose weight!

I think the book still works well as a political rant, it's one of those defiant and dynamic pieces of writing that erupts from marginalised people when they first get vocal. But I also think that real life is more complex than theory and that some people might find it too full-on. Mind you, it was never really intended for the frustrated dieters of middle england, I wrote it for the activists and scholars who had inspired me, the people - like those in the Fat Underground and the dykes of FaT GiRL - who were really out there, I wanted to push the thinking about what it is to be fat further, and I certainly I did that.

Where can I get a copy?
It's available from the usual online sellers, you can still order a copy from your local bookshop, get your library to stock it, or pester someone to buy it for you.

I'm a journalist and I'd like you to contribute to a radio/TV/newspaper/magazine programme/article I'm working on.
It depends what it is. I don't comment to the mainstream media any more, and I won't reply to you if I think your angle is exploitative or tired. But if you've got something exciting and new to say, or if you're an alternative publication, or if you're obviously and intelligently pro-chubb, or if you can offer me money, I'll sing like a bird.

Will you do a talk / come to my party / give me diet tips?
Why don't you email me and ask nicely? Diet tips are unlikely, I should add.

Your question not featured here?
Email me and ask it anyway.

Fat & Proud: the Politics of Size
Published by: The Women's Press (1998)
ISBN: 0 7043 4473 4
Price: £8.99