The Dynamics of Fat Acceptance: Rhetoric and Resistance to the Obesity Epidemic
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THE DYNAMICS OF FAT ACCEPTANCE: RHETORIC AND RESISTANCE TO THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC Melonie R. McMichael, M.A., B.A. A Dissertation in TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION AND RHETORIC Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Amy Koerber, Chair Dr. Craig Baehr Dr. Rebecca Rickly Dr. Laura Beard Peggy Gordon Miller Interim Dean of the Graduate School December, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Melonie R. McMichael Texas Tech University, Melonie (Lonie) McMichael, December 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank a number of individuals for their assistance and support in my writing of this dissertation. First off, I would like to thank the men and women of the Fatosphere and Fat Acceptance who were willing to assist in the research portion of this project. Along that line, I would like to thank the scholars and bloggers on the Fat Studies listserv for their support and assistance in working through many issues within this text. Additionally, I would like thank my committee for their hard work and thoughtful insights in dealing with a controversial topic. I greatly appreciate the different viewpoints and observations and believe this work is much better because of the committee members’ perspectives. Finally, I would like to thank my chair, Amy Koerber, for her support and dedication in helping me to produce this work. Not only did she do an incredible job on guiding me through the process, but she taught me a great deal about being a scholar in technical communication and rhetoric along the way. ii Texas Tech University, Melonie (Lonie) McMichael, December 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1 Introduction and Literature Review ................................................................................ 1 hooks’ Ideology of domination .................................................................................................... 3 Fitting into Technical Communication ........................................................................................ 6 Fat Acceptance Movement ........................................................................................................ 19 Is It truly Prejudice? ................................................................................................................... 25 Comparing prejudices versus the dynamics of prejudice ........................................................... 29 The Project Structure ................................................................................................................. 31 Chapter 2 Design and Methodology .............................................................................................. 34 Preliminary research .................................................................................................................. 35 Digital Interviews and a Rhetorical Analysis of Blogs .............................................................. 41 Framework and Research Questions .......................................................................................... 42 Overall approach and rationale .................................................................................................. 44 Ethical and political considerations In Digital Research ........................................................... 50 Site and population selection ..................................................................................................... 55 Data gathering methods ............................................................................................................. 58 Data-analysis procedures ........................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3 The Roots of Prejudice .................................................................................................. 63 Fat Prejudice and The Sisyphean Bind ...................................................................................... 65 Fat as Permanently Changeable ............................................................................................. 69 Failed Bodies ......................................................................................................................... 75 Medical And Health-Related Rhetorics: A Closer Look ........................................................... 79 Fat and Health: Dominant and Resistant Rhetorics ............................................................... 80 The Rhetoric of the Obesity Epidemic ................................................................................... 85 The Obesity Paradox .............................................................................................................. 94 Diet Books as Technical Communication ............................................................................ 105 Dieting as a Business ........................................................................................................... 108 Chapter Summary And Implications For Technical Communication ...................................... 111 Chapter 4 The Process of Prejudice ............................................................................................. 116 iii Texas Tech University, Melonie (Lonie) McMichael, December 2010 Connections To Racism, Sexism, And Other Forms Of Prejudice .......................................... 117 Fat People As Inferior .............................................................................................................. 124 Media Images ....................................................................................................................... 126 Negative Messages in the Home .......................................................................................... 130 Sources Outside the Home ................................................................................................... 135 The Medical Community ..................................................................................................... 136 Dealing with Others ............................................................................................................. 138 Lack of Options ................................................................................................................... 140 Internalized Fat Hatred ............................................................................................................ 143 Summary and Implications for Technical Communication ..................................................... 147 Chapter 5 Resistance .................................................................................................................... 149 Fighting the “Oppressor Within” ............................................................................................. 150 The “Fantasy of Being Thin” ............................................................................................... 156 The Ongoing Battle .............................................................................................................. 158 Resisting External Forces ........................................................................................................ 160 Visibility as a Form of Resistance ....................................................................................... 161 Fighting Against the Backlash ............................................................................................. 163 Fat Activism ......................................................................................................................... 167 The Power of Rhetoric ............................................................................................................. 169 Redefining Terms ................................................................................................................. 171 Coming Out as Fat Accepting .............................................................................................. 178 Resistance to Medical Rhetoric ........................................................................................... 180 Humor as resistance ............................................................................................................. 183 Co-opting the Language of Fat Acceptance ......................................................................... 186 Conflicts within the Fat Studies Movement ............................................................................. 188 Summary and Implications for Technical Communication ..................................................... 198 Chapter 6 Overcoming Oppression .............................................................................................. 204 Loving the Fat Body ................................................................................................................ 206 Love in Action: Health At Every Size ..................................................................................... 212 Rights for the Unhealthy .....................................................................................................