| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Lee, J. (200102). You will face discrimination : Fatness, motherhood, and the medical profession. Fat Studies, 9(1), (1-16). |
| 2017 | Lee. (170101). Ripping Off the Mask: A Queer, Kinky, Fat Masquerade. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, 4(1), (114-114). |
| 2016 | Lee, J. A., & Pause, C. J. (160101). Stigma in practice: Barriers to health for fat women. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(DEC), |
| 2013 | Lee, J. (130429). Beyond binary genders: Reviewing the medical management of intersex infants. International Journal of the Humanities, 9(12), (133-143). |
| 2012 | Lee, J. (121201). A big fat fight. Overland,(207), (11-17). |
| 2012 | Lee, J. (120301). Not Just a Type: Diabetes, Fat and Fear. Somatechnics, 2(1), (80-83). |
| 2012 | Lee, J. (120101). A big fat fight: the case for fat activism. Overland,(207), (11-17). |
Key details
Areas of expertise
- Fat studies
- Weight stigma
- Autoethnography
- Creative writing
- Health at every size
Available to supervise research students
Available for media queries
About Jennifer Lee
In addition to her role as Senior Lecturer in the College of Arts and Education, Jennifer is a research fellow with the Institute for Health and Sport. She researches and publishes in the interdisciplinary field of Fat Studies, where cultural studies, gender studies, education, health and medicine, nutrition, psychology, science, the arts, and creative writing intersect. ‘The Obesity Epidemic’ has attracted media attention, research funding, medical interventions and public health messages. Yet in all of these messages there is often a key missing voice. In Fat Studies, there is more work to do to establish that the ‘fat’ voice is important. Cultural studies and creative approaches to the discourse of ‘The Obesity Epidemic’ differ to the dominant discourse in the health and science disciplines, which is also the dominant discourse in the media. The neoliberal Western discourse of blame, and individual responsibility for health and obesity is problematic, and it is within the field of Fat Studies that critique of these dominant discourses happens.
Within the Fat Studies discipline, Jennifer also questions problems relating to class and race, by considering the infrastructure such as the availability of nutritious food at a reasonable price in remote, indigenous and non-Western communities, the availability of sporting facilities, and funding for youth health in outer suburbs. These are issues that are also relevant to the west of Melbourne and lower socio-economic groups that Victoria University academics often come into contact with through their teaching and research.
By writing across several fat-related areas, Jennifer's research has the potential to create new knowledge within the gaps in the discipline. Because Fat Studies is a developing interdisciplinary field, there is a range of unexplored areas. She has published on the discrimination of fat women in pregnancy and motherhood (2018, 2019); the barriers to health for fat women (2016); fat, health and activism (2015), fat and diabetes (2012), fat and queer identities (2014, 2016), fat sexuality (2015, 2017), fat discrimination (2012), and fat and sport (2013).
As a result of her publications, and conference presentations in Europe, the USA, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, Jennifer has also spoken about her research on television programmes such as SBS ‘Insight’, ABC ‘You can’t ask that’, and ABC’s special ‘obesity’ episode of ‘The Drum’.
Qualifications
- PhD, Deakin University, Australia, 2005
- GradCertUniversityTeaching, University of Melbourne, Australia, 2006
- BA (Hons), Deakin University, Australia, 1999
Key publications
Jennifer has over 22 publications, with a selection listed here.
A more comprehensive list of Jennifer's publications is available in the VU Research Repository.
Book Chapter (showing 3 of 3)
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Lee, J. (160101). Hidden and forbidden: Alter egos, invisibility cloaks and psychic fat suits (pp. 101-112). |
| 2014 | LEE, J. (141125). All the Way from (B)lame to (A)cceptance: Diabetes, Health and Fat Activism In Chastain, R. (Ed.) (1) (pp. 63-73). Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. |
| 2014 | Lee, J. (140501). Flaunting fat: Sex with the lights on (pp. 89-96). |
Journal article (showing 7 of 9)
Research funding for the past 5 years
Funding details for this researcher are currently unavailable.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the following organisations for their support and essential contributions to my research:
Supervision of research students at VU
Available to supervise research students
Available for media queries
Currently supervised research students at VU
| No. of students | Study level | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Masters by Research | Withdrawn supervisor |
| 1 | PhD | Withdrawn - Principal supervisor |
| 1 | PhD | Associate supervisor |
Currently supervised research students at VU
| Students & level | Role |
|---|---|
| Masters by Research (1) | Withdrawn supervisor |
| PhD (1) | Withdrawn - Principal supervisor |
| PhD (1) | Associate supervisor |
Completed supervision of research students at VU
| No. of students | Study level | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PhD | Associate supervisor |
| 2 | PhD | Principal supervisor |
Completed supervision of research students at VU
| Students & level | Role |
|---|---|
| PhD (1) | Associate supervisor |
| PhD (2) | Principal supervisor |
Teaching activities & experience
Jennifer is the Creative Writing coordinator at VU, and is the only ongoing (permanent) Creative Writing Lecturer in the College of Arts and Education. She began teaching Creative Writing at VU in 2003, in areas such as fiction, memoir, narrative non-fiction and genre fiction, and she also teaches the literary studies unit ACL2007 Romance and Realism.
She has supervised five PhD students to completion, and currently supervises three higher degree by research students. She has supervised on topics such as representations of 'fat' boys in young adult fiction; the creation of authentic indigenous characters; suppressed stories of women and mental health in Australia; the hidden nature of abortion in Australia; and variant gender, intersex and transgender characters.
Key academic roles
| Dates | Role | Department / Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2017 - Dec 2019 |
Research Fellowship
|
Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University |
| Jun 2017 - Dec 2019 |
Creative Writing Coordinator
|
Victoria University |
| Feb 2013 - Mar 2013 |
Visiting Research Fellow
|
Massey University, Human Development, Institute of Education |
| Nov 2016 - Dec 2016 |
Visiting Research Fellow
|
Centre for Contemporary Ideas, Dickinson College, Pennsylvania |
| Jan 2013 - Dec 2019 |
Referee (journal articles)
|
Creative Writing journal TEXT |
| Dates | Role & Department/Organisation |
|---|---|
| Jan 2017 -
Dec 2019
|
Research Fellowship
Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University |
| Jun 2017 -
Dec 2019
|
Creative Writing Coordinator
Victoria University |
| Feb 2013 -
Mar 2013
|
Visiting Research Fellow
Massey University, Human Development, Institute of Education |
| Nov 2016 -
Dec 2016
|
Visiting Research Fellow
Centre for Contemporary Ideas, Dickinson College, Pennsylvania |
| Jan 2013 -
Dec 2019
|
Referee (journal articles)
Creative Writing journal TEXT |
Key industry, community & government roles
| Dates | Role | Department/Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2019 - Dec 2019 |
HAES (Health at Every Size) Australia Advisory Board member
|
HAES (Health at Every Size) Australia |
| May 2018 - Dec 2019 |
Vice-president
|
Victoria University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union |
| Dates | Role & Department/Organisation |
|---|---|
| Sep 2019 - Dec 2019 |
HAES (Health at Every Size) Australia Advisory Board member
HAES (Health at Every Size) Australia |
| May 2018 - Dec 2019 |
Vice-president
Victoria University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union |
Awards
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2007 |
HarperCollins Literary Award for short memoir - HarperCollins Publisher & Verandah Literary Journal |
Media appearances
01st March 2019
‘The Drum’, featured panelist, ‘Obesity’ special episode, ABC. Host: Ellen Fanning Panel: Dr Kathryn Williams, Professor Stephen Simpson, Jacqueline Moore and Dr Jenny Lee Guest: Alexandra Jones We’re told we’re in the grips of an ‘obesity epidemic’ with two in three Australian adults considered overweight or obese, in a special episode of The Drum the panel explore what’s missing from the conversation, fat shaming and environmental factors.
14th September 2016
You Can't Ask That: Fat episode (ABC)
‘You Can’t Ask That’, Fat episode, Season 1, Episode 7, ABC. This episode sets the record straight about what it's really like to be judged as fat, find out the answers to the questions Australians wanted to ask but were too embarrassed or afraid to ever ask in person.
28th May 2013
‘Fat Fighters’, Episode 15, front row guest, on Insight, SBS, Sydney, over 1.25 million viewers total. Jennifer Lee is part of a 'fat activist' movement, which claims that correlations between weight and health are exaggerated and unfairly shame fat people. 'You can't actually tell someone's lifestyle or health by looking at them,' she says. Jennifer says that after trying countless diets since a very young age, she is no longer trying to lose weight. Jennifer Lee is a lecturer at Victoria University.
06th October 2015
Question Time: ‘Our obesity epidemic’, The Wheeler Centre
Question Time: ‘Our obesity epidemic’, panellist, The Wheeler Centre. Summary: What are the health impacts of obesity – and how can it affect a person’s quality (and length) of life, employment, community participation? How does the fat acceptance movement relate to debates about public health, and how are myths about obesity perpetuated? During this hour of audience Q&A, host Madeleine Morris is joined by Heart Foundation CEO Mary Barry, Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation CEO Ange Barry, fat studies academic Jenny Lee and researcher Michael Gard for a discussion of Australia’s unfolding obesity epidemic.
18th February 2013
Interviewed for Aquaporko! The documentary, Kelli Jean Drinkwater, Australia. Reclaiming public space through the art of water dance, Aquaporko! is not only the name of the fat femme synchronized swim team that Kelli Jean co-founded in Sydney, Australia, it is also the title of the documentary film that it inspired. Aquaporko! is the story of the Melbourne chapter as they prepare for their first live performance. Aquaporko! won the audience award for Best Documentary at the 2013 Mardi Gras Film Festival. Produced by Kelli Jean Drinkwater who co-directed with Anna Helme this film has been in official selection at over 35 international film festivals including MardiGrasFilmFest, InsideOut Toronto, Frameline San Francisco, and MIX Copenhagen to name a few.
