12. No Fat Soldiers - The Fascist War on the Body

In this episode we dive into the aesthetics of fascism, Mar-a-Lago face, Hegseth’s “no fat generals” speech, and the racialized histories of fatphobia. We interviewed professors Caroline Heldman and Julie Cassiday to explore how fascist regimes past and present use the body as a site of control to enforce ideas about who belongs and who is targeted. The fascist body must be strong, fit, highly gender differentiated, and containing NO FAT, because fat becomes a sign of excess, lack of discipline, and weakness within fascism. But, as we know, these fascist times can also generate spaces of hope and resistance, needed now more than ever.