The Living Fat Body
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LIVING THE FAT BODY: WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR BODIES AND POPULAR CULTURE JoAnna R. Murphy A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2018 Committee: Lesa Lockford, Advisor Madeline Duntley Graduate Faculty Representative Sandra Faulkner Kimberly Coates © 2018 JoAnna R. Murphy All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Lesa Lockford, Advisor Beginning from Foucault’s notion that “where there is power, there is resistance,” I uncover how fat people are at any given time accepting, resisting, and/or subverting the oppressive power embedded in social norms surrounding their bodies (95). Each chapter reveals a new layer, a new complication as to how, why, and when individuals are (un)able, (un)willing, and/or (un)certain about how they can and are treating their own and other people’s fat bodies. In my study, I take as a given that behavior is fluid, ever changing, shifting, and in progress. My study demonstrates how media messages are being accepted, resisted, re-appropriated, altered, internalized, and/or ignored by individuals; thus, my study brings focus to the complex relationships fat people have surrounding their subjectivity, their sense of power, agency, and ability to resist, as well as the interplay of the intersections of their social identities, and their sense of embodiment and the performance of their fat body. iv For my Mom. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first acknowledge my participants. These women and men opened up to me, were vulnerable and brutally honest at times, and granted me permission to share their personal stories and for that, I want to thank every single one of them. I want to send a very special thank you to Dr. Lesa Lockford, my Advisor. Dr. Lockford provided me with sound advice, as well as the care and consideration that I needed to write this dissertation. I could not have done it without her guidance. In addition, I want to thank the invaluable insight my committee provided. I want to also acknowledge my family, friends, and co-workers who stood by me and supported me throughout this process. Perhaps most importantly however, I would like to extend a very special thank you to my partner Levi who encouraged me, loved me at my highest, lowest, and everywhere in between, and challenged me to push forward even in times of doubt. Levi, you are my rock. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION…..... ........................................................................................................ 1 Fat Shaming ............................................................................................................... 3 The Sociology of Knowledge .................................................................................... 6 Literature Review....................................................................................................... 8 Cultural Studies .............................................................................................. 9 The Sociology of the Body ............................................................................ 12 Feminist Scholarship ...................................................................................... 16 Fat Studies ...................................................................................................... 18 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 22 Primary Sources of Data ............................................................................................ 27 Prompts ...................................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER ONE: WOMEN’S FAT BODIES AND ISSUES OF CONSTRAINT……………………… .................................................................................. 36 Representative Constraints......................................................................................... 36 The Funny Fat Friend..................................................................................... 38 The Fat Suit .................................................................................................... 40 Intersecting Identities ................................................................................................. 43 Intersecting Identities: Gender, Race, and Size ............................................. 43 Intersecting Identities: Gender and Size ........................................................ 47 Intersecting Identities: Gender, Sexuality, and Size ...................................... 51 vii Diet-Talk and Constraint............................................................................................ 54 Betrayal: Fat Heroes on Diets .................................................................................... 62 Fashionable Constraints ............................................................................................. 65 Fat(ness), Constraint, and Relationships .................................................................... 74 Fat Love ............................................................................................................ 76 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 82 CHAPTER TWO: NEGOTIATING CONSTRAINT .......................................................... 84 Recursive Experiences with Resistance ..................................................................... 84 Resistance and Social Identities ................................................................................. 84 Resisting Diet Culture ................................................................................................ 87 Resisting Fashion, Shapewear, and the Hourglass ..................................................... 89 Negotiating Health and Weight ................................................................................. 94 Complicating Resistance and Acceptance ................................................................. 102 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 108 CHAPTER THREE: SUBVERSION AND UTOPIC VISIONS ......................................... 111 Understanding Subversion/Subversive Acts .............................................................. 112 Utopian Visions ......................................................................................................... 114 Utopian Visions: Shifting Discourse ............................................................. 116 Utopian Visions: Cultural Products ............................................................... 126 Utopian Visions: Performances ..................................................................... 132 Systematic Changes: Subversive Acts ....................................................................... 138 Conclusion….. ........................................................................................................... 140 CONCLUSION……… .......................................................................................................... 142 viii Stella’s Story ............................................................................................................ 144 The Complexities of Resistance................................................................................. 152 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 154 Future Research ......................................................................................................... 155 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................ 158 APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONS.............................................................................. 166 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS......................................................................... 169 1 INTRODUCTION American culture has a problem with fat bodies, soft bodies, dimpled and rippled bodies, and jiggling bodies. Within our media saturated world, representations of fat bodies are typically negative as scholarship has shown us (cf. Bordo, Wolfe, LeBesco, Farrell). The pervasive negative representations of fat people in popular culture make it clear that they have not consistently been regarded as capable human beings. For my dissertation, I spoke with women and men who identify as overweight or fat and asked them about their experience. These individuals complicated notions of acceptance, resistance, and subversion, as well as notions of internalized oppression. Despite the negative cultural messages, these individuals found various ways to resist and even subvert fat shaming messages. Based on the variety of voices featured in this dissertation Living the Fat Body is a complex, difficult, recursive, and ongoing process. Resistance is not easy, nor is resistance static. Resistance does not come without doubt, guilt, or shame. Yet, even in the current fat shaming and fatphobic climate and culture in which we live, the individuals with whom I spoke still found ways to resist hegemonic beauty norms, fat phobic discourses, and behaviors which seek to constrict