Dr. Elisabeth Lechner, BA BA MA MA
Elisabeth Lechner

News: Elisabeth Lechner is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Vienna, currently working on a habilitation project on culinary life writing in British literature, i.e. the role of food in women's auto/biographical writing. She completed her PhD at the University of Vienna in 2020. Situated at the intersections of literary, cultural and media studies as well as affect & body studies, her research on ‘disgusting’ female bodies, body positivity and digital feminist activisms was published academically and as the German non-fiction book Riot Don't Diet! Aufstand der widerspenstigen Körper (2021, 3rd edition).

Apart from engaging in various forms of science-public communication and conducting workshops on media literacy, body shaming and lookism over the last few years, more recent publications include “#Feminist – Naming Controversies and Celebrating Points of Connection and Joy in Current Feminisms” (together with Greta Olson) and co-editing the collective volume Caring for Cultural Studies (2022).

She is active on social media as @femsista.

Consultation hours: Office hour: by appointment.

Summer term 2025
120691 PS Proseminar Cultural and Media Studies - Fruit, Meat, and Grains - The Cultural Politics of Food in the Age of Cannibal Capitalism Capitalism
123042 PS PS Literary Studies - Complex Consumption - Approaching Gender, Race and Class via Food in Victorian Literature
Winter term 2024
123046 PS PS Literary Studies - I can make money by my pen The Cultures and Poltics of British Women‘s Writing from Virginia Woolf to Carol Ann Duffy and Bernardine Evaristo
124183 VK BEd 08b.3: VK Cultural Studies and Language Education - Face Filters, Skin Care Influencers and Fat Activism - Body Politics in the EFL Classroom
Lechner, E. (Accepted/In press). Störkörper. In Sand im Getriebe: Eine Philosophie der Störung (pp. 191-215). Zsolnay.

Lechner, E., & Royle, H. F. (Eds.) (2025). Talking Bodies IV: Rage and Care Against the Machine. Bloomsbury Academic. Talking Bodies














Lechner, E. (2024). Die Schönheitsideale der künstlichen Intelligenz: Radio-Beitrag auf Ö1. Radio show, Österreichischer Rundfunk - ORF (Ö1).





Körperbild und Selbstwert im Kontext von Lookismus, Body Shaming und Body Positivity

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

2 Dec 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Von #TradWives zu #MeToo Aktivist*innen, vom #ThatGirl zur #FatActivist – Digitale Weiblichkeitsbilder im Widerstreit

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

5 Nov 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


Störkörper

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

22 Sept 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Philosphieren im Kunsthaus Bregenz

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

19 Sept 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


Körper, Affekt, Medien - Widerständige Körperpolitiken im Zeitalter des Plattformkapitalismus

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

12 Jun 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


From #RepresentationMatters to System Change: #BodyJustice Beyond Visibility and Self-Love

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

6 Jun 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


#RiotDontDiet - Selbstwert im Kontext von Sichtbarkeit und widerständiger Scham

Elisabeth Lechner (Keynote speaker)

31 May 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


#RiotDontDiet - Digitale Körperpolitiken zwischen algorithmischem Optimierungszwang und kollektivem Widerstand

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

21 May 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Selbstliebe ist nicht genug!

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

16 May 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


Gegen-Schönheit. Gespräch mit Moshtari Hilal, moderiert von Cécile Schortmann

Elisabeth Lechner (Invited speaker)

14 May 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


#RiotDontDiet - Widerständige Gesundheitsförderung gegen Schönheitsdruck und Body Shaming

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

7 Mar 2024

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


#RiotDontDiet - Warum Essen, Gewicht und Aussehen politisch sind

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

2022 → …

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


From #beautybeyondsize to #effyourbeautystandards - Body Positivity and 4th Wave Feminism

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

13 Jun 201915 Jun 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Expertinnen-Statement und Podiumsdiskussion zu Schönheitsidealen und Body Shaming

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

7 May 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


#selflovebringsbeauty - On the Potentials and Pitfalls of Popfeminist Bodypositive Activism and Its 'Disgusting' Female Bodies between Visibility and Vulnerability

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

10 Apr 201913 Apr 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Beyond Disgust - The Popfeminist Politics of Body Positivity

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

22 Nov 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Was ist eigentlich Body Positivity? Von 'ekligen' weiblichen* Körpern, Aktivismus und dem Geschäft mit Authentizität

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

10 Mar 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


#effyourbeautystandards - Fashion and the Popfeminist Politics of Body Positivity

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

26 Jan 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Too much information!? Zum transgressiv-feministischen Potenzial des ‘ekligen’ weiblichen Körpers in der zeitgenössischen Popkultur

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

Aug 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


“Gross! On the New Visibility of ‘Disgusting’ Female Bodies in American Popular Culture”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

19 May 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


“Against the Silencing Politics of TMI or: Creating Spaces for ‘Disgusting’ Female Bodies in Popular Culture”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

4 May 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Lecture “Discussing the Complexities of ‘Disgusting’ Sex in Lena Dunham’s Girls”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

4 Apr 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


“Speaking Up Against the Silencing Politics of TMI or: ‘Disgusting’ Female Bodies Talk Back”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

Apr 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


“On the Problematic Resignification of ‘White Trash’”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

29 Jan 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Beitrag zur Podiumsdiskussion über Lookismus

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

19 Jan 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


“Too Much information?! The Language(s) of bodily resistance in the Works of Lena Dunham and Charlotte Roche”

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

Jul 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science



Workshop zu Pop, Porno und Postfeminismus - Femininität und Maskulinität in zeitgenössischen Musikvideos

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

May 2015

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


Präsentation über die russische Popband Fabrika

Elisabeth Lechner (Speaker)

11 Apr 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Department of English and American Studies

Spitalgasse 2, Hof 8 (Campus)
1090 Wien

T: +43-1-4277-42466

elisabeth.lechner@univie.ac.at