CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
Fatphobia in the United States
A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of Master of Social Work
By
Morgan Blanchard
May 2019 The graduate project of Morgan Blanchard is approved:
______Dr. Susan Love Date
______Dr. Wendy Ashely Date
______Dr. David McCarty-Caplan, Chair Date
California State University, Northridge
ii Dedication
I dedicate this to my mother, Connie Blanchard. This could not be possible without you, this is all for you. I will continue to fight the good fight for both of us.
iii Table of Contents
Signature Page ii
Dedication iii
Abstract v
Introduction 1
Method 7
Sources 10
Results 15
Discussion 18
Limitations 25
Conclusion 26
References 31
Appendix A: Advertisements 34
iv
Abstract
Fatphobia in the United States
By
Morgan Blanchard
Master of Social Work
Purpose: To explore what fatphobia looks likes in the United States and understand where fatphobia came from. Method: A historiography model is being utilized, in order to explore the history of what being fat has meant in the United States. Results: The various sources used to create this historiography is explained in detail and the importance of each source. Discussion: Various factors are highlighted as to what some of the main causes of fatphobia are, including the influence of religion on the human body, as well as the United States being a patriarchal society. Lastly, the discussion includes what has been done throughout history through fat activism. Conclusion:
Recommendations on how to continue to use fat activism in order to push back on the fatphobic society in the United States.
Search terms: Body Acceptance, Diet Culture, Fat Activism, Fatphobia
v Introduction
The United States is a fatphobic society, however there is little research on the cultural meanings attributed to fatness or the fat person. There is still much research to be done on the relationship between culture and history of the United States and how those factors continue to affect those in larger bodies. It is often assumed that the cultural stigma associated with fatness emerged as a result of our recognition of its apparent health dangers. What is evident from historical documents, however, is that the connotations of fatness and of the fat person (i.e. undisciplined, gluttonous, greedy, immoral, uncontrolled, insecure, depressed, lacking in will power) preceded and then were intertwined with explicit concern about health issue (Farrell, 2011; Robinson et al.,
1993). Every diet that has emerged on the scene has come with a larger social agenda and cultural meaning. In all of them, fat is a social and physical problem; the social stigma of fatness and fantasy of freeing oneself from this stigma coincides with or even takes priority over issues of health (Farrell, 2011).
The majority of existing literature on the topic of weight stigma focuses on the relationship between an individual who is fat and the health risks of being in their body, emphasizing that being fat is an individual problem that can be solved with behavioral change. However, very little literature or research examines the culture, history and other powers at play that factor into the development of the fat body, the discrimination of the fat body, and the choice to stay in a fat body. Tovar (2018) explains this by stating
“There are real culture problems like sexism, body shame, fatphobia, and myriad of injustices many of us are dealing with all of the time and yet we are told over and over again by mainstream narratives that these problems reside in us” (p.57). There is a need
1 for a shift in literature which is to take the shame and blame of an individual person and to instead externally look at the history and culture of the United States that started the shame and look at the culture that continues the shame.
“In 2002, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, the U.S. government’s highest health official, described obesity as the terror within, a threat that is every bit as real to
America as the weapons of mass destruction” (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014, p.11). Obese is defined by a weight that is higher than what is considered a healthy weight for a given height. Terms such as overweight and obese miss the mark. Over what weight? There is no precise weight beyond which you will be unhealthy (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014). Body
Mass Index (BMI), is used as a screening tool for overweight or obesity. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI is moderately correlated with more direct measures of body fat obtained from skinfold thickness measurements and other methods (“Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity,” 2016). Recent statistics suggest that the United States suffers from an “obesity epidemic,” with obesity effecting about 93.3 million adults (“Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity,” 2016). “With the connotations of disease, contagion, and proliferation, the choice of the term “epidemic” is deliberately alarmist, suggesting imminent danger and sure catastrophe if not addressed”
(Gilman, 2009). The medicalization of fatness as a disease epidemic strips away humanity and focuses solely on a medical condition, and ignoring the people involved.
Many health professionals rationalize high failure rates as noncompliance and continue to be obedient to the same advice despite daily evidence of their patients’ misery. “What’s needed instead is a coherent framework for practice that integrates different sources of evidence and knowledge, one that takes emotions, suffering, and stigma into account
2 alongside biomedical data” (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014, p.6). While a majority of people in the United States believe that fat is unhealthy, medical opinions on weight are actually mixed (Herndon, 2002). Well- respected members of the medical community are beginning to understand that such assertions display a woefully fatphobic and misguided understanding of obesity that damages fat people in very tangible ways (Herndon, 2002).
In 1998, Dr. Jerome Kassirer and Dr. Marcia Angell published an editorial in The
New England Journal of Medicine that stated 95 percent of diets fail and asked that the medical community stop pushing for weight loss (Herndon, 2002). In addressing the issue of "health" so often used to justify fatphobia, they write: "Given the enormous social pressure to lose weight, one might suppose there is clear and overwhelming evidence of the risks of obesity and the benefits of weight loss. Unfortunately, the data linking overweight and death, as well as the data showing the beneficial effects of weight loss, are limited, fragmentary, and often ambiguous" (Herndon, 2002). Government literature states that there are 300,000 deaths each year due to factors such as poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle, however weight is never specifically mentioned (Farrell, 2011;
Herndon, 2002). This brings context to the connections between discrimination, stigma, and ill health. “It is argued that one of the main reasons the life chances of fat people are limited is because of the unfair treatment they receive in employment, medical care, and social life” (Farrell, 2011, p.11). Therefore, until it is understood the issue is not the epidemic of obesity, but instead an epidemic of judgement, bias, and hyperbole the lack of equality and basic dignity will remain within this community.
Literature focuses heavily on how Western religion, rooted in a patriarchal society has played a large role in the United States becoming a fatphobic society. Farrell (2001)
3 explains, by the end of 19th century Protestant Christians increasingly saw fatness as an outward sign of both gluttony and a poor relationship to God, and thinness a marker of one’s choosiness. It is concluded that the exalting of thinness and the development of fat stigma are the consequences of the continuing force of “Protestantism’s desire for a perfectible, eternal living, breathing, disciplined, yet sensual body, along with its counterpart, the sinner objection toward deficient, impoverishes, or languishing bodies”
(Farrell, 2001, p. 45). Within mainstream Protestant thinking, fat became a sign of a deficient body, one that was not sufficiently demonstrating the restrain and control that
God required. The impact a patriarchal society has on the advancement of a fat phobic society was first articulated in 1978 where Susie Orbach explained the idea, “Thin female body was desirable by patriarchal standards because it took up little space, the deferential body that did not claim too much” (Farrell, 2011, p.114). Furthermore, Susan Bordo articulated the links between Western culture’s mind and body dichotomy and the concept of thinness. She analyzed the body and mind duality, which concludes the physical as inferior and feminine, and the mind as superior and masculine. This concept inherently constructs an ideology in which the female person is seen as physical and therefore, substandard (Farrell, 2011).
Thus, it seems the concern about fatness is more about judgement and moral perceptions of fatness. The impacts of this judgment are fat shaming then perpetuating into fat phobia. Fat shame is causing someone in a larger body to feel humiliated by mocking or critical comments about their size. Often times fat shaming leads to discrimination against fat people (Farrell, 2011) Fatphobia is defined as a pathological fear of fatness often manifested as negative attitude and stereotypes about fat people
4 (Robinson et al.,1993). Fatphobia is a form of bigotry that positions fat people as inferior and as objects of hatred and derision (Tovar, 2018). Research has begun to see the effects of fatphobia; the prevalence of discrimination of those in larger bodies is now on par with discrimination based on race and sex (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014). “However, when we focus solely on an individual’s weight or health habits, we overlook structural and political issues that affect health and well-being” (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014, p.97). It is vital we keep sight of the fact that while personal care can improve the quality of people’s life and their sense of well-being, nonetheless structural change is needed.
Fundamentally this is a human rights issue, although one that supports health equality
(Bacon & Aphramor, 2014).
There is emerging attention to pushing back on these issues through fat activism.
Fat activism is defined as a group of people who do a broad range of activities that address fatness with a critical edge, who bring a consciousness to actives, and who see themselves as part of the movement (Cooper, 2016). Fat activist also push towards a body positive society. Body positivity is an overarching love and respect for the body that allows individuals to appreciate the unique beauty of their body and the functions it performs for them; accept their body, including those aspects that are inconsistent with idealized images; feel beautiful, comfortable, confident, and happy with their body; emphasize their body’s assets rather than dwell on their imperfections; have a mindful connection with their body’s needs; and interpret incoming information in a body- protective manner whereby most positive information is internalized and most negative information is rejected and reframed (Wood-Barcalow, Tylka & Augustus-Horvath,
2010). Cooper (2016) explains the value of fat activism, “The work of inviting people to
5 participate in a discussion, to recognize themselves as a part of a community, can have powerful effects. Given lifelong isolation that many fat people have felt, being part of a community of people with shared values is psychologically important in claiming a strong self-identity, relinquishing loneliness, and finding people with whom to share experiences” (p. 63).
However, this is a new area of inquiry that has not yet had significant effort to exploring the cultural history of the Unites States’ perceptions of fatness, and how, over time, our obsession with bodies developed. Therefore, this paper intends to explore the issue in depth, through a historiographic analysis of fatphobia that intends to answer two primary questions: what role has history and culture had in the formation of fatphobia; and how has Western religion largely rooted in a patriarchal society aided in developing a society plagued by fat shaming?
6 Method
Through a historiographical analysis of the relationship between culture and history of the United States and how those factors continue to affect those in larger bodies, this paper answers the following questions: What role has history and culture had in the formation of fatphobia? How has a largely patriarchal history aided in developing a society plagued by fat shaming?
Historiography
A historiography is the study of the way history has been and is written. Early conceptualization of a historiography suggested the purpose of this approach is to assess the value of historical works in reflecting our understanding of a given phenomenon
(Becker, 1938). Historiographies give manuals of information about histories and historians, they provide a neat balance sheet of the contributions which each historian has made to the sum total of verified historical knowledges now on hand. A historiography should be something more than an estimate of the contributions of historians to present knowledge. Instead, it should be a phase of intellectual history, a phase at which records that individuals had at different times about what was known and what was believed about the past, the use they had, knowledge and beliefs, and the underlying presuppositions, which made the knowledge seem relevant. Typically, historiographies have been used to examine the history of past politics, historical events, such as previous wars or genocides, and historical time periods, such as Ancient Greek or Ancient Egypt
(Becker, 1938.)
7 Current Application
Currently, a historiography, according to Witt (2012), is an analysis of the interpretations of a specific topic written by past historians. The major purpose of writing a historiographical paper is to convey the scholarship of other historians on a particular subject, rather than to analyze the subject itself. Furthermore, is describes the current trends in the field of study, such as which interpretation is currently in the mainstream.
Historiographies have also, and more recently, been used to explore social justice issues to understand and explain the root causes of historic social inequality. For example, McCarty-Caplan (2013) uses a historiographical approach to examine historic marginalization of sexual minorities in school-based sex education programs. The article utilizes a history-focused approach to show how sex education, since its inception, has marginalized the experiences and health concerns of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students. Furthermore, it explores how this experience has contributed to school environments frequently becoming hostile towards sexual minority groups (McCarty-
Caplan, 2013). Another example of a historiography with a social justice issue is
Lawson’s (1991) work on the Civil Rights Movement. Lawson uses a historiographical approach to explore the freedom movement through uncovering the unseen and unheard narratives of those who were invaluable to black freedom. Lawson, though a history focus lens, begins to uncover other narratives involved in black liberation, like various communities, such as The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Lawson also focuses on the immense role that women had in the freedom movement. The importance of Lawson’s work is that it reveals the importance of multiple
8 historiographies, for the same event, as more evidence and literature become accessible about a topic.
The current paper intends to contribute to this growing body of literature that utilizes a historiographic approach to analysis of an emerging social justice issue:
Fatphobia. First, the paper examines the history of the roots of the social justice issue, which in this case are diet culture and fat shaming. This paper then analyzes the history of fatphobia in the United States using books, research, public health documents, scholarly journals, and consumer advertisements to further understand the roots of the social justice issue. The paper also critically examines the historic role of religion, sexism, and a patriarchic society in the creating and maintenance of fatphobia within the
United States. Lastly, the paper provides suggested action, after a complete historiography is completed, in order to advise the steps that need to be taken in order to combat the social justice issue of fatphobia.
9 Sources
This paper includes the use of four books, one library guide resource, four scholarly journals, two research studies, three government health documents, and eight consumer advertisements.
Books
This paper is largely based off four books. The first book is Fat Shame by Amy
Farrell. Amy Farrell herself has thin privilege so she is speaking from the standpoint of an ally, which offers a different perspective that is still needed. This book takes an in depth look of the history of fatphobia, starting as early as the 1800s. Farrell observes how the attitudes and ideas changed around fat people through the decades, but the overall stigma always remained the same. Farrell speaks to the large role that religion has played in aiding in fueling fatphobia and fat shaming. Farrell also touches on the different impacts that fat people of color have to encounter that are different than their fat white peers. Farrell touches on the role feminism has played in aid of fueling the body acceptance movement (Farrell, 2011).
The second book is Fat Activism by Charlotte Cooper. Charlotte Cooper is speaking as a fat, white, queer woman. Cooper’s book is about undoing previous ideas of what fat activism was and focuses on doing fat activism in today’s world. Cooper focuses heavily on the role that feminism has played in fat activism. Cooper also spends time on expressing ways to do queer fat activism (Cooper, 2016).
The third book is Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong,
Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight by Linda Bacon and Lucy
Aphramor. Both authors are speaking as allies to the fat community. Bacon and
10 Aphramor are the founder of Health at Every Size (HAES) which is a movement that believes in respect for body diversity, critical awareness; critical awareness in regards to challenging scientific and cultural assumptions, value people’s body knowledge and their lived experience, acknowledge social injustice in regards to the health hazards that oppressed communities experience. Lastly, HAES believes in compassionate self-care in various ways including mindfulness and joyful movement. (82) Body Respect focuses on debunking myths surrounding the “obesity epidemic” and gives individuals the tools to start truly living in the body they are in right now (Bacon and Aphramor, 2014).
The fourth book is You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar. Tovar is speaking from a fat, Latina woman’s perspective. Tovar shares her personal experiences moving through the world being a part of various oppressed communities; but doing so unapologetically. Tovar speaks about diet culture and the serious effects it has on individuals as well as how fat activism can be used as a tool to combat fatphobia and diet culture (Tovar, 2018).
Library Guides
The paper utilizes information from The University of Rhode Island, University
Library. This reference helped guide historiographic method of this paper. The library guide was used to explain what a historiography is and how historiographies have been used historically in the past (Witt, 2012).
Scholarly Journals
In total four scholarly journals were utilized. The first was “What is a
Historiography?” by Carl Becker. This source spoke on length about how historiographies have been utilized in the past such as politics and prior historical events.
11 The next two articles utilized were used as examples of how historiographies can be used today, specifically with social justice issues. The first article was “Schools, Sex
Education, and Support for Sexual Minorities: Exploring Historic Marginalization and
Future Potential” by David McCarty-Caplan. The second article was “Freedom Then,
Freedom Now: The Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement - Martin Luther King,
Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement” by Steven Lawson. The last article utilized was
“Disparate but Disabled: Fat Embodiment and Disability Studies” by April Herndon which explores fat embodiment and the tensions between biologically based descriptions of fatness and disability in the lives of women. The article also looks at the medicalization of fatness and disability (Herndon, 2002).
Research Studies
The first research paper utilized was “Fat Phobia: Measuring, understanding, and
Changing Anti‐Fat Attitudes” by Beatrice E. Robinson, Jane G. Bacon, and Julia
O’Reilly. This study first explains how the Fat Phobia Scale was developed and then examines fatphobic attitudes woman has about themselves (Robinson et al., 1993). The second research was “But I Like My Body": Positive Body Image Characteristics and a
Holistic Model for Young-Adult Women” by Nichole L. Wood- Barcalow, Tracy L.
Tylka, and Casey L. Augustus- Horvath. This study looks at various factors in an individual’s life that influences their body image. Some of the factors are media, cultural values, spirituality, interpersonal relationships and community (Wood-Barcalow et al.,
2002).
12 Government Health Documents
Three government documents were utilized. First, were from the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. The article was “Defining Adult Overweight and
Obesity.” This document is strictly medically based. The document explains how to determine the Body Mass Index (BMI) of an individual and therefore then determines if the individual is “normal,” “overweight,” or “obese.” The document provides statistics on number of “overweight” and “obese” individuals in the United States (“Defining Adult
Overweight and Obesity,” 2016). The second and third documents were from U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. The first document was “Disability
Discrimination” which defines the Americans with Disabilities Act in detail, including a definition of disability and reasonable accommodations (“Disability Discrimination,” n.d). The last article, was “Resources for Human Development Settles EEOC Disability
Suit for $125,000.” This document gives a detailed example of a case where an individual was wrongfully terminated due to her weight (“Resources for Human Development
Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000,” 2012).
Consumer Advertisements
Various consumer advertisements from different time periods, and different modalities were utilized to show the not so evolving industry of advertising. The advertisements came from magazines, billboards, and apparel. The time periods of the advertisements are from the 1890’s to as recent as 2018. The advertisements are a visual representation of how far society has come in their fatphobic ways, which unfortunately, is not far based on the images. The advertisements are also used to visually show how far
13 back the idea that “fat” is bad, lazy, glutenous, and ugly goes and how little progress has been made in order to change these ideals.
14 Results
When research first began for this paper, it was clear that there was a dominate narrative about fatness in the United States. It was transparent based on government documentations and the various journals about the “obesity epidemic” available compared to the amount of research and journals on fatphobia. To begin research it was important to understand the dominant opinion on fat individuals. Therefore, various medical, and scholarly journals were read and observed that were in support of the
“obesity epidemic.” This process was important because it guided this historiography, by reading the opposing views of fatphobia it was evident what was needed in order for individuals who only see “obesity epidemic” to instead see the harm inflicted on fat individuals by only having a single story about fatness.
Once the document “Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity” from the Center of
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was identified, it became obvious that in order to support this historiography other ideas of thinking were needed, which is when the article
“Fat phobia: Measuring, understanding, and changing anti‐fat attitudes” was identified.
This article is groundbreaking for those living lives in larger bodies. The Fat Phobia
Scale was developed in order to examine fatphobia and uses a treatment approach to decrease fatphobia. This scale paved the way in order to “prove” the validity of fatphobia, and make an “opinion” a reality that in turn formed a new group to oppress and discriminate (Robinson et al., 1993). The article was read three times, notes were taken on what was missing from this article and what was still needed in studies about fatphobia, which in return guided what needed to be identified next in research. Hence, in order to support this historiography another updated, medical opinion needed to be
15 presented, which is when Body Respect by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor came in.
Bacon and Aphramor’s book was read once and then the chapter of Deconstructing
Weight was read for a second time and highlighted and an idea for future action was pulled out from this book (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014).
In order to apply the information from the books to this paper, each book was read previously with a neutral stance since the reading was for personal reasons at first. The books were reread once the paper began. Once Fat Shame by Amy Farrell was read for a second time it was transparent the role that religion has played over the centuries in aiding the United States in becoming the fatphobic society it is today. This is where the first theme emerged. The chapters in Farrell’s book that focused on the role of religion were reread multiple times and highlighted and a timeline was created in order for clarity on the chronological order of the emerging ideas of fatness (Farrell, 2011).
Next, You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar were read for a second time and the theme of the effect the patriarchy has on fatphobia emerged after reading both Farrell and Tovar’s books. Both authors talked about the concept of the patriarchy in excess and it became clear that fatphobia cannot be talked about without talking about the patriarchy. Hence, the second theme became the patriarchy. Various chapters in both books were read multiple times and note taking and highlighting began in order to pull out information for the second emerging theme (Farrell, 2011; Tovar, 2018).
Once Fat Activism by Charlotte Cooper was read for a second time information was pulled to add to the theme of the effect of the patriarchy. The theme of fat activism also surfaced after reading Cooper’s book for a second time. The chapters about fat activism in Farrell and Cooper’s books were read again and highlighted and examined for
16 support of the third theme of fat activism. Furthermore, Cooper’s book was utilized as a basis of what some future recommendations are in order to combat fatphobia (Cooper,
2016).
17 Discussion
Themes
Religion.
The first concept of diet culture in religion is reflected in the 1800’s though the
Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham. Graham was concerned with overconsumption and encouraged his follower to reject “rich” foods such as meat and tea. Graham’s mindset was that if “rich” food were consumed it led to overexcitements and self- pollution, for example masturbation. Graham instead taught his followers to have a diet of plain vegetables and whole grain biscuits, graham crackers are now a legacy due to this movement (Farrell, 2011). Following Graham in the late 1800’s, Horace Fletcher encouraged his followers to chew their food one hundred times per minute in order to consume less. Then Seventh Day Adventist and physician, John Harvey Kellogg, promoted “Fletcherizing,” which was intense and prolonged chewing of whole grain foods to treat his fat patients (Farrell, 2011). “By the end of the 19th century, Protestant dieting gurus like Fletcher and Kellogg emphasized the superiority of the thin body, one that showed restraint and control in the face of the excess of urban, commercial life”
(Farrell, 2011, p.45). Protestants then began looking to the body for signs of a person’s piety, character, and intelligence (Farrell, 2011).
In the 1900’s physicians, ministers, and politicians began to worry that civilization was endangering white middle-class men. The men believed they were threatened by “neurasthenia,” a nervous disorder, and becoming an “invert,” which was the term used for homosexuality. So, in response to these concerns middle-class men were urged to build up their strength (Farrell, 2011). “The fat male body began to be seen
18 as evidence of a man who had succumbed too much to the pleasures of civilization and whose constitution was too weak to withstand the pressures of modern life” (Farrell,
2011, p.46). Fat male bodies were looked at as “dirty, impure, and unchristian” (Farrell,
2011, p.46). This is when “Muscular Christianity” came about, mixing morality, religion, and sport. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) began and focused on
“masculinity, assertiveness, and control” (Farrell, 2011, p.46).
In this fatness was looked at as something that left you susceptible to homosexuality, a nervous disorder, or to fall to any other temptations of the world. For this time period, this only validated the concepts that a fat body was a weak, deficient body, which in this time further meant that one held a deficient sexuality because of their gluttonous, sinful behavior of fatness (Farrell, 2011).
Through the centuries, fat has been used as a measurement of how close an individual is to God, creating an unrealistic standard of faith that cannot be obtained by all. The thinner the individual, the closer to God they are because they are able to control their worldly urges of gluttony. The verse, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, where it is stated that your body is a temple, is still misused and misguided today. People are informed they are living in sin and taking advantage of the one body they were given and using it to disrespect God. However, one interpretation of this verse states this verse is referring to the church and not the individual. “The “body” in 1 Cor 6:19 is the communal body, not the individual one. His main proofs, among other secondary arguments, are theological and rhetorical” (Gupta, 2010, p.521). Therefore, the misguided interpretation can lead to the reinforcement of discrimination in yet another sector of the world, that is meant to be a safe, judgement free space.
19
Patriarchy.
In the 19th century women became the targets for fears about excess consumerism.
The customary idea during this time was that women lacked sufficient rational qualities and therefore were weak in will, unable to control their impulses, and susceptible to consumer culture (Farrell, 2011). However, the expectation was that women need to
“…maintain civilization” through their behavior, their clothing, and their exchanges with both men and with children” (Farrell, 2011, p.49). Therefore, in regards to fatness women were considered to exhibit more “bodily excess” than men because their rational was not sufficiently developed in order to control their appetites for food (Farrell, 2011). In the
20th century it was believed that “civilization” was changing men’s “natural” sex instinct.
Men were beginning to realize they preferred thin woman instead of “plump” women
(Farrell, 2011). As fat women were “…repulsive sights, degrading alike to their sex and civilization” (Farrell, 2011, p. 68). In order to accommodate to men women began taking part in slimming campaigns in order to fight their natural tendency to gain weight.
Today, it is important to recognize that misogyny and men play a major role in the maintenance of fatphobia. Rather than recognizing the multiplicity of feminine expression and feminine power, women in pursuit of thinness become complicit in their own dehumanization and therefore become agents of misogyny (Tovar, 2018). However, we can argue that this dehumanization is done in the pursuit of not only acceptance and equity from men, but also love. Women young and old are taught that men are the key to happiness. There is a fear that without heterosexual marriage and childbearing we cannot become people who matter or are “real” women (Tovar, 2018). Instead, women deserve
20 to be taught that they deserve love simply because you are a person, love does not have to be earned through particular socially sanctioned methods, and that includes weight control. It is also important to recognize that men are both the stand-ins for cultural approval and the enforcers of normativity. It is often at the hands of men that women and girls learn that their emotional, professional, and romantic well-being depends of proximity to men (Tovar, 2018).
All women, regardless one’s shape or size are subjugated to misogyny. However, based on size the misogyny does look different. “Very thin women are positioned in far more public positions (as wives and girlfriends), while fat women are positioned in far more private positions (as lovers and secrets) (Tovar, 2018, p.67). Furthermore, among fat women there are variations in treatments as well. A fat woman who is cisgender is likely to be treated differently than a fat woman who is transgender. To continue, race is another factor. The lighter you are the more culturally valued you are, therefore, whiteness can soften the fatphobia, where dark-skinned women may experience more hostility due to colorism and fatphobia (Tovar, 2018). “Misogyny works in tandem with white supremacy to build a population of women that is pliant and easily manipulated in order to carry out the oppressive needs of the culture and the state as they currently exist”
(Tovar, 2018, p.72).
The controlling of women’s bodies has been at the forefront of the patriarchal society since the 19th century. This controlling of women’s body size is about controlling women’s lives. This claim about control does not have to be the dominate narrative. This claim to control is based on fantasies of masculine superiority bolstered by a fatphobic culture, and this isn’t how it has to be (Tovar, 2018).
21 Fat activism.
Fat activism emerged in the late 1960s at the same time as the gay liberation movement, the second wave of feminism, the welfare rights movement, black power, and
Chicano and Native American movements (Farrell, 2011). One of the first fat activist groups began in the early 1970s in California called the Fat Underground. Their goal was to confront doctors, psychologists, and public health officials with their ideas about fat oppression. However, the professionals argued back that their experiences were
“mystified oppression.” Fat Underground fought back by conducting their own research on obesity, discriminatory practices, health risks from dieting, and the amount of eating disorders caused by dieting. One of the largest interventions by Fat Underground was showing up at diet centers and clubs for the introductory lecture and would raise the question the program’s medical theory and success rate (Farrell, 2011).
Today, Cooper defines fat activism as “self-acceptance, it’s about being body positive, it’s campaigning for social change, it’s challenging stigma, it’s about eating, it’s about health” (Cooper, 2016, p.51). Cooper breaks up fat activism into four forms, political activism, community-building, cultural work, and micro fat activism.
First, political activism, which Cooper defines as, “…Social change is engendered through collective influence and public debate using the tools and processes of state power, for example through rights and policy” (Cooper, 2016, p. 54). Various political activism includes, creating anti-fat discrimination legislation, street protests, public debate, public speaking, or letter-writing.
An example of political fat activism that is occurring today is equality in the workplace. The employment discrimination often relates to the statement “professional
22 appearance is required.” This factor often leads fat people rejected for jobs for which they know they are well qualified (Farrell, 2011). Farrell explains, “Many even stop trying for jobs that require “professional appearance,” because they know that potential employers will see their fatness as, de facto, unprofessional. Employers see fat people as inherently morally defective, lazy, and out of control, certainly not qualities associated with
“professionalism” (Farrell, 2011, p. 159). There is very little legal protection against employment discrimination for fat people in the United States. “Unlike federal legislation that bars discrimination on the basis of sex, race, national origin, and religion, there is no such national law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of body size”
(Farrell, 2011, p. 159). So far, with a mix of petitions, public hearings, and demonstrations fat activists have achieved legislation that prohibits discrimination against fat people in Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. (Farrell, 2011).
Second, community building “enables fat people to develop social capital.” When people are invited to participate in discussions and identify as part of a community it enables people to exercise power, and assists in making oppressed groups visible and legitimized. Perhaps the most crucial part of community building is the psychological importance of finding individuals whom share similar experiences in an otherwise isolated existence (Cooper, 2016).
Third, cultural work in fat activism “encompasses art and photography that makes fat embodiment and fat activist community visible” (Cooper, 2016, p.68). Similar to community building, cultural work “is activism that generates capital and socially transforms fat” (Cooper, 2011, p.68). Cooper (2016) explains, “Because it is interpretable and unfixed, it offers new possibilities for imagining fat, the first step towards creating
23 change” (p. 69). “Political process fat activism is appealing because it offers a set of distinctly defined interests, aims and objectives founded on a sense of common purpose and oriented towards a progressive future” (Cooper, 2016, p.57). By using the processes of the dominant culture, political fat activism has a chance of being recognizable and understandable by the dominant culture, ensuring its prominence, presence and legitimacy within a public sphere (Cooper, 2016).
Fourth, micro fat activism, which can take place in everyday life, can be carried out by one person, requires few material resources, can involve small acts, and can be done in the immediate (Cooper, 2016). This form of fat activism is often conversational.
Cooper (2016) explains, “This is the work of gently-or not so gently! - drawing people’s attention to micro-oppression, but it also involves being visible to other in an unthreatening way and bringing up fat consciousness to other conversations” (p.79).
24 Limitations
The largest limitation to this paper is that fatphobia is an underdeveloped study in research. Furthermore, the movements evolving from fatphobia such as Health at Every
Size and Fat Activism, are still new movements that do not have enough recognition or mobility yet. Due to these factors, there are a limited number of sources that were available and limited the amount of research that has been conducted. Furthermore, it made it more difficult to identify what has been done so far in areas of fat activism because they are not reported on or large enough to be seen, or large enough to know the effects it is having on combating fatphobia.
The most influential difficult aspect was in regards to finding scholarly journals and research studies in regards to fatphobia, diet cultures, and fat shaming. This led to having to utilize more books than research studies, which would have been beneficial to back up data in the books. However, this does speak to the need of more research to be done in this arena, but it made it more difficult to find information and to have more validity in having multiple sources reporting the same information.
The most successful part of the research was being able to find references from various voices in the fat community. It is imperative to have different voices from the same community, because even though they are a part of the same community their experiences can be drastically different due to their intersections. Since there were different perspectives throughout the paper it made it a diverse historiography and avoided sharing a single-story narrative from this community.
25 Conclusion
First and foremost, there needs to be a drastic realization that perceptions on body size is a societal-bound phenomenon not based in objective ideas of healthy bodies. This realization needs to come from fat people just as much as it needs to come from thin people. This realization will come when there is more representation from the fat community, more representation in the media, in higher education, in positions of power, and even at the community swimming pool. Tovar (2018) explains, “There was a recognition that “acceptance” was not a desired outcome because absorption into the racist, patriarchal, and fatphobic culture that has systematically dehumanized you isn’t exactly a “win” (p. 92). It isn’t enough to accept that this is the way it has always been so this is the way it will always be. There is liberation and change at hand, acceptance can’t be embraced as enough anymore.
Action that can be taken today to work against fatphobia is utilizing micro fat activism. Which can include calling people in to conversations. Instead of calling people out of their fat shaming comment, call them in to the conversation and try and understand where their comment came from and why they thought it was appropriate to bring to the conversation. If the space is right it can lead to a quick education on why it is harmful to bring those comments into the workplace, into educational settings, and in friendships.
Long- term action, as stated above, can be more representation in the media. The media including social media, television, movies, and advertisements. There is a current movement of more fat women models, however there is still a cap, a size 20 can be a model, but a size 32 is still not acceptable. Furthermore, we have not seen a push for more fat male models. In television and media, the fat character needs to be seen as more
26 than the laughing stalk for the rest of the characters to gang up on, we need to be in roles that don’t limit us to always being the joke. Tovar (2018) explains, “This inability to see yourself in the future is a product of believing there is no room for you in the culture that surrounds you” (p.101). If media continues down the path that it is, as far as fat representation, we will continue to limit the world to seeing and discovering more than what is behind the fat body.
Another example of long-term action is policy change. Title VII currently prohibits employers from discriminating based on sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. However, this leaves out a huge community, fat individuals. This leaves fat individuals vulnerable to unemployment, furthering the oppression and discrimination of
40 percent of the United States population (“Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity,”
2016). An employment-based policy, that is already in place, that can assist with workplace discrimination based on one’s size is the Americans with Disability Act.
Disability discrimination occurs when a covered employer treats an applicant or employee less favorably because they have a history of a disability or because they are believed to have a physical or mental impairment. The law requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to an employee or job applicant with a disability
(“Disability Discrimination,” n.d). Many fat people may meet the definition of having a disability, not because they have an impairment but because they are a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. There is an argument that “obesity” should not be considered a disability because it is considered to be the person’s own fault for being obese (Chastain, 2014). However, “Ignoring the complexity of body size, importantly, nowhere in the ADA definition does it say “unless the impairment is the
27 fault of the person, in which case no accommodations shall be given. If someone meets the ADA definition of disabled/person with disabilities, then they should be covered and there shouldn’t ever be a discussion of fault” (Chastain, 2014).
An example of the Americans with Disability Act aiding a fat individual is a case involving Lisa Harrison who was an employee of Family House of Louisiana, which is a treatment facility for chemically dependent women and their children, in New Orleans.
Harrison worked there from 1999 to 2007, which is when she was fired (“Resources for
Human Development Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000,” 2012). In 2012
Family House of Louisiana paid $125,000 to settle a disability discrimination suit filed in
September 2010 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The court-approved settlement resolved the charge of Lisa Harrison (“Resources for Human
Development Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000,” 2012). Family House of
Louisiana violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) when they fired Harrison because of her disability, severe obesity, even though she was able to perform the essential functions of her job. Before the EEOC filed suit, Harrison died (“Resources for
Human Development Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000,” 2012). EEOC General
Counsel David Lopez states, “All people with a disability who are qualified for their position are protected from unlawful discrimination. Severe obesity is no exception. It is important for employers to realize that stereotypes, myths, and biases about that condition should not be the basis of employment decisions” (“Resources for Human Development
Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000,” 2012.)
Lastly, a long-term action would be that all medical providers, including registered dietitians and psychiatrist be fully trained and educated with Health at Every
28 Size (HAES) (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014). There is substantial amount of cases of medical providers that have caused harm by only being trained to see fatness as an
“epidemic” that needs to be “cured.” Language is a form of micro fat activism that can begin in medical settings today by clients speaking up about the fatphobic language used in the office, however it shouldn’t be up to the client to educate their doctor on the harms of only prescribing weight loss as a form of treatment.
For true change to occur fatphobia needs to recognized as a social justice issue.
Longevity and health are distributed unevenly among socioeconomic classes, put plainly, good health rises in correspondence with socioeconomic success. There is a socioeconomic gradient to health, whether that is measured by income, formal education, or job status. In return, the greater the inequality in a society the steeper the gradient to health (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014). “The United States has the greatest inequality of all wealthy nations and the greatest health disparities” (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014, 95).
It is not enough anymore to drastically change diets when there are factors that are beyond our control like socioeconomic status and living environments. Social determinants of health are “…factors beyond genes and lifestyle that influence people’s health and are largely out of their immediate personal control” (Bacon & Aphramor,
2014, p/97). Other common direct causes of illness include racism, homophobia, sizeism, transphobia, and classism, however these causes are not usually accounted for in medical texts. “Once we understand the centrality of oppression and chronic stress in causing many weight-associated diseases, a different set of responses becomes not only possible, but necessary (Bacon & Aphramor, 2014, p. 97). By continuing to blame fatness on an individual we will continue to miss the person behind the folds on their skin and
29 continue an “epidemic” that was caused by the uncontrollable factors that surround an individual.
30 References
Bacon, L., & Aphramor, L. (2014). Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get
Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight. Dallas, TX:
BenBella Books.
Becker, C. (1938). What is Historiography? The American Historical Review, 44(1), 20-
28.
Chastain, R. (2014, December 19). Is "Obesity" a Disability. Retrieved May 1, 2019,
from https://danceswithfat.org/2014/12/19/is-obesity-a-disability/
Cooper, C. (2016). Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement. Bristol: Hammer On Press.
Deabler, A. (n.d.). Fashion company's 'fat-shaming' sweatshirt sparks instant backlash.
Retrieved March 18, 2019, from https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/fashion-
companys-fat-shaming-sweatshirt-sparks-instant-backlash
Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity. (2016, June 16). Retrieved November 4, 2018,
from https://www.cdc.gov/
Disability Discrimination. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2019, from
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm
Farrell, A. E. (2011). Fat shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture. New
York: New York University Press.
Gupta, N. (2010). Which "Body" Is a Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19)? Paul beyond the
Individual/Communal Divide. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 72(3), 518-536.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43726829
Herndon, A. (2002). Disparate But Disabled: Fat Embodiment and Disability
Studies. NWSA Journal, 14(3), 120-137.
31 Hix, L. (n.d.). Selling Shame: 40 Outrageous Vintage Ads Any Woman Would Find
Offensive. Retrieved March 18, 2019, from
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/selling-shame-40-outrageous-vintage-
ads-any-woman-would-find-offensive/
Lawson, S. (1991). Freedom Then, Freedom Now: The Historiography of the Civil
Rights Movement -- Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement
(Vols. 1-18) edited by David J. Garrow. The American Historical Review, 96(2),
456.
"Lose the Blubber" Ad is Low Blow from PETA. (2013, August 19). Retrieved March
18, 2019, from https://www.nutritionunplugged.com/2009/08/lose-the-blubber-
ad-is-low-blow-from-peta/
Lowbrow, Y. (2018, March 18). You've Come A Long Way, Baby: Virginia Slims
Advertising Year By Year. Retrieved March 18, 2019, from
https://flashbak.com/youve-come-a-long-way-baby-virginia-slims-advertising-
year-by-year-365664/
McCarty-Caplan, David Milo. (2013). Schools, Sex Education, and Support for Sexual
Minorities: Exploring Historic Marginalization and Future Potential. American
Journal of Sexuality Education, 8(4), 246-273.
MeToo Paradox: Movement Topples the Powerful, Not the Ordinary. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 18, 2019, from https://thesocietypages.org/
Public Resistance to an Ad Campaign - Sociological Images. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18,
2019, from https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/08/09/public-resistance-
to-an-ad-campaign/
32 Resources for Human Development Settles EEOC Disability Suit for $125,000. (2012,
April 10). Retrieved May 1, 2019, from
https://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-10-12a.cfm
Robinson, B., Bacon, L., & O'reilly, J. (1993). Fat phobia: Measuring, understanding, and
changing anti‐fat attitudes. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 14(4), 467-
480.
Tovar, V. (2018). You Have the Right to Remain Fat. New York, NY: Feminist Press.
Witt, A. (2012, February). How to Create a Historiography: Historiography: Definitions.
Retrieved December 6, 2018, from https://uri.libguides.com/historiography
Wood-Barcalow, Tylka, & Augustus-Horvath. (2010). "But I Like My Body": Positive
body image characteristics and a holistic model for young-adult women. Body
Image,7(2), 106-116.
Zoomar. (2009, November 10). Retrieved March 18, 2019, from
https://zoomar.tumblr.com/post/238797261/she-can-have-a-tummy-and-still-look-
yummy-is
33 Appendix A
Consumer Advertisements through the Years
1890’s 1956
34
1970’s 1972
2009
2016
35
2018
36