Abstract
What does it reveal about the perceived disposability of fat bodies that scholarship readily attends to fat mortality, yet seldom illuminates fat joy or liberation through leisure? Grounded in the understanding that leisure is fundamentally about liberation, freedom, and bodily autonomy, we take up this question by exploring the philosophical foundations of fat liberation. We position our work in dialogue with fat activism, fat studies, feminist theory, movement ecology, and critical leisure studies. Recognizing fatness as a social and political identity, we argue that fat leisure is a crucial site for personal transformation-which is foundational for building the collective capacity needed to create alternatives and challenge dominant institutions. In other words, fostering one's own agency is essential preparation for engaging in broader collective struggle. Thus, we align with Davidson and Gruver (2022) framing of fat activism as public philosophy-an approach that invites scholars and practitioners to engage broader discourse to transform material conditions through practices that shift social norms, make fat liberation tangible, and contest systems of exclusion. As scholars, we illustrate our engagement in fat leisure as a component of public philosophy by tracing how our Big & Bold Paddle program, an adaptive, nature-based aquatic initiative, aims to cultivate body autonomy and belonging for people in larger bodies.