Lecturer
College of Letters and Science | Department of Gender and Women's Studies
Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
Dr. Kate Phelps is a lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They have a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Their teaching and research interests and areas of expertise include body politics, body liberation, fat studies, Health at Every Size, bodies and capitalism, weight stigma, size inclusive care, girlhoods, social media, feminisms, and arts-based therapies. They are also a member of the Leadership Circle for the UW-Madison 4W Initiative. They lead body mapping workshops and give talks for a variety of campus and community organizations.
Talks:
Trap-italism: The High Stakes of Health
This talk critically considers the contemporary wellness industrial complex and healthcare and bodies under capitalism through historical, cultural, social, and political lenses.
Body Politics and Body Advocacy
This talk defines body politics and invites audiences to consider their knowledges around their bodies and perceptions of health using a social justice framework, and considers what body advocacy and body liberation might look like and feel like for different groups and identities.
Working Against Anti-Fatness
This talk explores how anti-fatness shows up in a variety of social institutions including healthcare, education, work, and media, and offers tools and strategies to challenge anti-fat bias and move towards a more size inclusive future.