If rapper Lizzo, who was lampooned over her weight on South Park last week, ever fits into a size-six gown, discontented scholars may well accuse her of participating in modern-day eugenics.

What type of scholar would do such a thing? A fat scholar, working in one of the “fat studies” departments that are burgeoning at Western universities, often as offshoots of gender studies programs. They pen scholarly papers in academic journals with names like Fat Studies, which publishes heavy-hitters such as “Compassionately fat: an autotheoretical exploration of queer bodies” and “What if Black Studies studied fat for real for real?”.