Abstract

In contemporary culture, increasing body weight or body becoming out of shape has become an alarming concern among people irrespective of age and gender. Having a body without the ideal body proportions or having a protruding belly or non-conforming body parts makes people vulnerable in public. The norms regarding body weight affect women more than men as the punitive mechanisms for having a fat body become harsher for the former. This paper focuses on the stigmatization of fat women in two Indian movies titled Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) and O.P.160/18 Kakshi: Amminippilla (2019) to analyze how fat shaming experiences traumatize and subjugate women with non-conforming bodies. By analyzing the experiences and trauma undergone by the fat women in these movies, the present study aims to explore how the stigma of fatness makes women vulnerable in the public and private spaces in Indian culture and marginalizes them from mainstream society.