“Fat Swim” and Literature’s Fatphobia Problem

In this episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour, host Jennifer Wilson interviews author Emma Copley Eisenberg about her new short story collection, *Fat Swim*, a work that confronts fatphobia in American culture and literature with bold, intimate storytelling. Eisenberg explores how fatness is portrayed—or erased—in fiction, using stories like 'Fat Swim' and 'Beauty' to examine identity, bodily autonomy, and the societal pressures to conform. She critiques the literary world’s reliance on reductive terms like 'overweight' and 'obese,' arguing that such language flattens characters and reinforces harmful stereotypes. The conversation extends to the cultural impact of drugs like Ozempic, questioning whether weight loss driven by societal expectations undermines the fat liberation movement. Eisenberg also reflects on her own identity as a Philadelphia writer, drawing on the city’s sensory intensity and interconnectedness to ground her stories in a lived, communal reality. Her striking billboard campaign—featuring a submerged, voluptuous figure with the slogan 'your gut is a terrible thing to lose'—serves as a provocative meditation on the contradictions between bodily wisdom and societal shame.