Debating Obesity: Critical Perspectives

281 Pages·2011·1.021 MB·English

by  Emma Rich, Lee F. Monaghan, Lucy Aphramor (eds.)

Debating Obesity

Critical Perspectives
Edited by

Emma Rich

Lee F. Monaghan

Lucy Aphramor
Debating Obesity
AlsobyEmmaRich
EDUCATION,DISORDEREDEATINGANDOBESITYDISCOURSE:
FatFabrications(co-authoredwithJohnEvans,BrianDaviesandRachelAllwood)
THEMEDICALIZATIONOFCYBERSPACE(co-authoredwithAndyMiah)
AlsobyLeeF.Monaghan
MENANDTHEWARONOBESITY:ASociologicalStudy
BODYBUILDING,DRUGSANDRISK
Debating Obesity
Critical Perspectives
Editedby
Emma Rich
UniversityofBath,UK
Lee F. Monaghan
UniversityofLimerick,Ireland
Lucy Aphramor
CoventryUniversity,UK
Selectionandeditorialmatter©EmmaRich,LeeF.Monaghanand
LucyAphramor2011
Individualchapters©theirrespectiveauthors2011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-22267-0
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Debatingobesity:criticalperspectives/editedbyEmmaRich,
LeeF.Monaghan,LucyAphramor.
p. cm.
1. Obesity. 2. Physical-appearance-basedbias. I. Rich,Emma,1977–
II. Monaghan,LeeF.,1972– III. Aphramor,Lucy,1967–
RC628.D4282010
616.3(cid:2)98—dc22 2010027547
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Contents
ListofTableandBoxes vi
ListofContributors vii
Editors’Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction:ContestingObesityDiscourseand
PresentinganAlternative 1
EmmaRich,LeeF.MonaghanandLucyAphramor
2 DoesFatKill?ACritiqueoftheEpidemiologicalEvidence 36
PaulCampos
3 BodilySensibility:VocabulariesoftheDiscredited
MaleBody 60
LeeF.MonaghanandMichaelHardey
4 ‘YouCan’tBeSupersized?’ExploringFemininities,Body
SizeandControlwithintheObesityTerrain 90
IrmgardTischnerandHelenMalson
5 DoingMoreGoodthanHarm?TheAbsentPresenceof
Children’sBodiesin(Anti-)ObesityPolicy 115
BethanEvansandRachelColls
6 Children’sBodies,SurveillanceandtheObesityCrisis 139
EmmaRich,JohnEvansandLauraDePian
7 FatLib:HowFatActivismExpandstheObesityDebate 164
CharlotteCooper
8 HelpingPeopleChange:PromotingPoliticisedPracticein
theHealthCareProfessions 192
LucyAphramorandJacquiGingras
9 Conclusion:ReflectionsonandDevelopingCritical
WeightStudies 219
LeeF.Monaghan,EmmaRichandLucyAphramor
Index 259
v
List of Table and Boxes
Table
3.1 Atypologyoffatbodilysensibility 72
Boxes
5.1 NSCfindings(DH,2006:22–23) 128
5.2 JustificationsfortheNCMP 130
vi
List of Contributors
LucyAphramorRDisanNHSdietitianandanhonoraryresearchfellow
at Coventry University. Lucy’s work seeks to advance a socially inte-
grated approach towards improving well-being and reducing inequali-
ties.TogetherwithSharonCurtis,sheisco-founderofHAESUK,agroup
established to raise awareness of the benefits of health at every size in
and beyond health care. She has published work on critical dietetics,
frequentlyincollaborationwiththeCanadiandietitian,JacquiGingras.
Paul Campos is Professor of Law, University of Colorado. He is the
authorofTheObesityMyth:WhyAmerica’sObsessionwithWeightisHaz-
ardous to Your Health (New York: Gotham Books, 2004), subsequently
republishedin2005asTheDietMyth.Hehasalsopublishedcriticalwork
on obesity in The International Journal of Epidemiology. Paul regularly
writesforScrippsHowardNewsAgency.
Rachel Colls is Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University.
She is interested in researching with and theorising ‘the body’. She
has published work on women’s experiences of clothing consumption,
weighingandmeasuringchildreninschools,feministtheoryandmate-
riality and critical geographies of obesity. She is currently working on
researchontheproductionandexperiencesofsize-friendlyspaces.
Charlotte ‘The Beefer’ Cooper is a queer fat activist based in London,
and currently a Government of Ireland PhD scholar at the University
of Limerick, courtesy of the Irish Social Sciences Platform. Charlotte’s
backgroundisinDIYcultureandqueerjournalism.Sheauthoredthefat
rightsmanifestoFatandProud:ThePolitics ofSize (1998)andthenovel
Cherry (2002). Charlotte is ‘the boss bitch’ of The Chubsters. She blogs
about fat activism and Fat Studies at: www.obesitytimebomb.blogspot.
com.
Laura De Pian is a doctoral research student in the School of Sport,
ExerciseandHealthSciences,LoughboroughUniversity.Sheisaformer
vii
viii ListofContributors
ResearchAssociateonanEconomicandSocialResearchCouncil(ESRC)-
fundedproject‘TheImpactofNewHealthImperativesonSchools’.
Bethan Evans is Lecturer in Geography and Medical Humanities at
DurhamUniversity.Herresearchinterestsinvolveacriticalengagement
withhealthpolicyanditsimplicationsforthoseinvolved.Shehaspub-
lished work on young people’s gendered experiences of sport, critical
geographies of obesity, children’s position in biopolitical, pre-emptive
health policy and health interventions in schools. She is currently
researchingtheroleofurbandesignprofessionalsinanti-obesitypolicy.
John Evans is Professor of Sociology of Education and Physical Edu-
cation at Loughborough University. He teaches and writes on issues
of equity, education policy, identity and processes of schooling. With
Emma Rich and Laura De Pian, he currently is researching the rela-
tionships between formal education, health and the embodiment of
subjectivity.Hehasauthoredandeditedanumberofpapersandbooks
intheSociologyofEducationandPhysicalEducationincludingEduca-
tion,DisorderedEatingandObesityDiscourse:FatFabrications,coauthored
withEmmaRich,BrianDaviesandRachelAllwood(Routledge,2008).
JacquiGingras,PhD,RDisanassistantprofessorattheSchoolofNutri-
tion, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. Her research involves the-
oretical and experiential explorations of critical dietetics epistemology.
Shehasaparticularinterestinhowdieteticstudents’andprofessionals’
subjectivities are constituted by power and discourse to inform advo-
cacy, policy and pedagogy. Her research engages auto-ethnographic,
narrative and arts-informed methods as a means for situated and par-
ticular understandings of dietetic theory, education and practice. Her
workappearsinFood,Culture&Society,RadicalPsychology,FeministMedia
StudiesandJournalofAgriculturalandEnvironmentalEthics.
Michael Hardey is reader in social science at the Hull/York Medical
School and the Department of Social Science, University of Hull. He is
anassociatedirectoroftheScienceandTechnologyStudiesUnit(SATSU)
at the University of York. He has written widely about eHealth and is
engaged in research with the Open University of Catalonia in relation
to European health care. His work includes: public-professional rela-
tionships, heterosexual male lifestyles, health and the body. He is also
involvedinanumberofWeb2.0initiatives.
ListofContributors ix
HelenMalsonisareaderinSocialPsychologyintheCentreforAppear-
ance Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Her
research focuses around feminist post-structuralist analyses of girl’s
and women’s ‘eating disordered’ subjectivities and practices and, more
recently, service users’ and service providers’ accounts about the treat-
ment of ‘eating disorders’. Her publications include The Thin Woman:
Feminism,Post-StructuralismandtheSocialPsychologyofAnorexiaNervosa
(Routledge,1998)and,withMareeBurns,CriticalFeministApproachesto
EatingDis/orders(Routledge,2009).
LeeF.MonaghanisSeniorLecturerinSociology,DepartmentofSociol-
ogy, University of Limerick. He teaches the sociology of health, illness
and the body; social theory and qualitative research. He has published
articles on the obesity debate and fatness in journals such as Body &
Society, Social Theory & Health and Sociology of Health & Illness. His lat-
estmonographistitledMenandtheWar onObesity: ASociological Study
(Routledge,2008).HeiscurrentlyworkingonthesecondeditionofKey
ConceptsinMedicalSociology(Sage,editedwithJonathanGabe).
Emma Rich is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Education at The Univer-
sity of Bath. She has published work related to the body, education
and health in journals such as Sociology of Health and Illness, Discourse,
Health, and Gender and Education. She is co-author of the books The
MedicalizationofCyberspace(withAndyMiah,Routledge2008)andEdu-
cation,DisorderedEatingandObesityDiscourse:FatFabrications(withJon
Evans,BrianDaviesandRachelAllwood,Routledge2008).
IrmgardTischnerisalecturerinSocialPsychologyattheUniversityof
WorcesterandassociatememberoftheCentreforAppearanceResearch
attheUniversityoftheWestofEngland,Bristol.Focusingonpoststruc-
turalist, feminist and critical psychological approaches, her research
interests include issues around embodiment and subjectivity particu-
larly in relation to (gendered) discourses of body size and ‘being large’
incontemporaryWesternsocieties.