THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Esther D. Rothblum, Ph.D.

“A well-meaning mentor once told me: ‘Don’t study women, it’s too narrow.’ I spent the rest of my life proving him wrong.” 

Professor, Author, Editor. Editor of Women & Therapy (for 12 years), Journal of Lesbian Studies (for 26 years), and Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society (for 12 years), as well as editor of 28 books. Co-founded the Women’s Studies program at the University of Vermont in the 1980s along with five other feminist faculty members and chaired the program in 1986-1988. Started the LGBT Studies major at San Diego State University in 2009, when it was only the second at any U.S. college. President of the division of LGBT issues of the American Psychological Association from 1999-2000. Member of the Advisory Board of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, and started a Size Acceptance Caucus at the Association for Women in Psychology in 2008.

Interviewed by Dr. Nanette Gartrell, 2021

Photo 1. Group that founded Women’s Studies at University of Vermont, early 1980s. Photo 2. Esther and Marcia Hill during LGBT march on Washington, DC, early 1990s. Photo 3. Esther receiving a Lesbian Health Research Award, with Dr. Nanette Gartrell and Dr. Dee Mosbacher, 2004. Photo 4. Esther and Elana Dykewomon at Fat Studies Reader book reading, 2009. Photo 5. Esther and partner Penny Sablove in San Francisco, 2013. Photo 6. Esther and Penny Sablove at the San Francisco Women’s March, 2019.