Fat Phobia and the Ethics of Pain with Dr. Jada Wiggleton-Little

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jada Wiggleton-Little, assistant professor of philosophy at ‘an’ Ohio State University, about fat phobia and the dismissal of fat patients' pain. She unpacks how clinicians treat such pain as normal and even deserved — a "desert pain" framing that casts patients as unentitled to further investigation, empathy, or care.

Fat Phobia and the Ethics of Pain

Jada Wiggleton-Little

Additional Readings:

• Kate Manne, Unshrinking: How to Face Fat Phobia

• Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia

• Roxane Gay, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017)

Dr. Wiggleton-Little’s Selected Publications:

• "Black Women and 'Doing' Pain: An Insurgent Act," American Philosophical Quarterly (Special Issue on Contemporary Issues in Black Philosophy), forthcoming.

• "Cure but Not Cured: Gene-Editing Therapy and The Ethics of Framing Language for Transforming Sickle Cell Disease," (with Shameka Poetry Thomas, Kristin Seastrand, and Consuela Albright), Hastings Center Report, forthcoming.

• "Pain Dismissal and the Limits of Epistemic Injustice," Hypatia, 1-17, 2025.

• "Sharing Pain: A Hybrid Expressivist Account," Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 102(3): 808-822. 2024.

• "'Just' a Painful Period: A Philosophical Perspective Review of the Dismissal of Menstrual Pain," Womens Health (London), 20:1-6. 2024.