LGBTQ+ Keynote: In Defense of Fat Imagination: Reclaiming Our Joy and Pleasure in the Age of AI and Ozempic

LGBTQ+ Keynote with Sonalee Rashatwar: In Defense of Fat Imagination: Reclaiming Our Joy and Pleasure in the Age of AI and Ozempic

GLP-1 medications and weight-loss advertisements are everywhere, but what do these messages tell us about whose bodies are valued and who benefits when people are encouraged to feel dissatisfied with themselves?

In this conversation, Sonalee Rashatwar (he/they), LCSW, MEd, will explore the connections between body image, health culture, white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism. Together, we’ll consider how messages about weight, health, aging, disability, and “ideal” bodies shape how we see ourselves and one another.
At a time of growing inequality and global crisis, what might it look like to imagine something different? How can pleasure, embodiment, creativity, and connection help us challenge harmful systems and build more just and liberating futures?
Join us for an engaging conversation about bodies, power, imagination, and the possibilities of collective liberation.
Free and open to the community. All are welcome.

About the Speaker
Sonalee (he/they) is a queer trans-masc Indian superfat trauma therapist and political educator based in Philadelphia. He’s known for his work over the last 10 years on decolonial fat liberation, sexual trauma, and South Asian family abuse. Known for popularizing concepts like internalized fatphobia, non-consensual diets in fat childhood, and diet trauma, Sonalee is always writing about diet culture as colonialism, workshopping fat resilience spaces, and planning their next swim. You can find him on Instagram at @TheFatSexTherapist.

Location: AC 255

Questions?
Contact Equity and Activities Coordinator Tea Reiko Perales at [email protected].
This program is supported by the California Community Colleges LGBTQ+ Grant.