Resisting the “war on obesity”Technologies of the Gendered Body (Week 8)

OutlineWhat is the “war on obesity”?Resisting the “war on obesity”:

AdvertisingFeminismCritical obesity studiesFat activism

What is the “war on obesity”?

Advertising junk food

Burger King – “I am a man” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGLHlvb8skQ

FeminismThe body as a site of patriarchal oppressionCompulsory heterosexualityThe evaluation of women by appearanceDieting as a form of physical and emotional

harmDieting as a time-consuming distractionDieting as a form of control

Critical obesity studiesGard and Wright 2005: 136“…when the prevailing conditions are

described as an “epidemic”, hyperbole no longer looks like hyperbole, ideology can look like common sense and moralising can even look like science”.

Critical obesity studiesQuestioning weight gain stats (Campos et

al, 2006: 55)“…what we have seen in the US in a relatively

modest rightward skewing of average weight on the distribution curve, with people of lower weights gaining little or no weight, and the majority of people weighing 3-5kg more than they did a generation ago. The average American’s weight gain can be explained by 10 extra calories a day, or the equivalent of a Big Mac once every 2 months. […] This is hardly the orgy of fast food binging and inactivity widely thought to be to blame for the supposed fat explosion.”

Critical obesity studiesQuestioning the health crisis:

BMI is very weak predictor of mortality (especially in “overweight” category (BMI 25-29.9); closer correlation in high 30’s)

Extremes of thinness are overlookedLittle account taken of confounding factors –

fitness / exercise / weight cycling / economic status etc

Being overweight can have a protective effect

Critical obesity studiesQuestioning the practicality / ethics of

advocating weight loss:Most diets end in regain (plus more) (see Mann

et al)Weight cycling is very unhealthyMany weight loss interventions have serious

side-effects and complicationsMany health problems (e.g. heart disease /

diabetes) can be treated successfully without weight loss

Critical obesity studies“Obesity epidemic” as a moral panic:

“Gluttony or sloth” (House of Commons Health Select Committee, 2004)

Obesity as a “moral” failure to care for the selfAlarmist language (time bombs)

“Obesity is a cancer “time bomb”(BBC online, 21.5.07)

Critical obesity studies“Obesity epidemic” as a moral panic:

“Gluttony or sloth” (House of Commons Health Select Committee, 2004)

Obesity as a “moral” failure to care for the selfAlarmist language (time bombs)Intense media coverageUnderlying rhetoric around gender / race /

class (see Herndon 2005)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsOl64sQjd4

Fat activism

Fat ActivismRe-claiming the fat body; “Flabulous”

(Marilyn Wann)Resisting dieting as harmfulResisting anti-fat discriminationCampaigning for better health careGender – encouraging women to take up

spaceNational Association to Advance Fat

Acceptance; International Size Acceptance Association

BBW events; see also, Monaghan (Big Handsome Men, Bears…)

Jennifer Portnick

Additional readingsMann, T, Tomiyama, J, Westling, E, Lew, A,

Samuels, B and Chatman, J (2007) “Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments” American Psychologist 62 (3): 220-233