University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2015 Containing Fatness: Bodies, Motherhood, and Civic Identity in Contemporary U.S. Culture Ruth J. Beerman University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, Communication Commons, and the Gender and Sexuality Commons Recommended Citation Beerman, Ruth J., "Containing Fatness: Bodies, Motherhood, and Civic Identity in Contemporary U.S. Culture" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 859. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/859 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONTAINING FATNESS: BODIES, MOTHERHOOD, AND CIVIC IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY U.S. CULTURE by Ruth Janet Beerman A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2015 ABSTRACT CONTAINING FATNESS: BODIES, MOTHERHOOD, AND CIVIC IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY U.S. CULTURE by Ruth Janet Beerman The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Leslie J. Harris The body, and visualizations of the body, serve as a way read appropriate consumption and citizenship: Weight operates as a key way to see literal consumption. U.S. citizenship is now commonly understood as consumptive bodily citizenship, where one’s body, or one’s child’s body, communicates their civic standing. Drawing on three case studies concerning childhood obesity, this dissertation demonstrates how rhetorics of and about the fat body construct the public identity of good citizen and good mother. Keywords: citizenship, fatness, good body, motherhood, visual rhetoric ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1: The Fat Body as Public ..................................................................................................1 Tensions in Citizenship ............................................................................................4 Fat bodies as Public Bodies .....................................................................................7 Rhetoricity of All Bodies .............................................................................8 Fat as a Feminist Issue ...............................................................................12 Rhetorical Construction of Fat Bodies .......................................................17 Bodies as Public Identity ...........................................................................20 Bodies as Visual Rhetoric ..........................................................................23 Text Selection and Justification .............................................................................24 Dissertation Overview ...........................................................................................29 2: The Theoretical Framework of Consumptive Citizenship........................................... 31 The Critic and Rhetorical Analysis ........................................................................33 Individualizing Citizenship.................................................................................... 36 Consumptive Bodily Citizenship ...........................................................................40 Intersection of Motherhood and Citizenship .........................................................47 Conclusions............................................................................................................ 51 3: Michelle Obama’s Bodily Advocacy ...........................................................................53 Let’s Move! Campaign............................................................................................ 54 The Rhetorical Situation of The First Lady and Public Womanhood ....................56 Mom-in-Chief (of the Nation)................................................................................ 61 Toned Arms and a Big Butt? ..................................................................................67 Toned Arms Rhetorics................................................................................ 68 Big Butt Rhetorics...................................................................................... 74 Conclusions............................................................................................................ 79 4: Stop Sugarcoating It! ...................................................................................................81 Children’s Bodies as Representations of Public Culture........................................ 84 Stop SugarCoating it: Campaign Overview........................................................... 88 Stopping the Cycle by Rewinding the Future: Jim’s Story.................................... 91 Developing the Argument: Laying out the Problem ..............................................97 Confronting the Reality of the Problem: Attitudes as Cause for Concern ..........110 Breaking the Cycle through Choosing Parenting: S4L’s Problematic Solution ...112 Conclusions and Implications ..............................................................................120 iii CHAPTER PAGE 5: When Standing for Justice, Remember the Message .................................................126 History of Fat Activism ........................................................................................128 The Fat Body as Oxymoronic and a Medusa Laughing .......................................132 “I Stand” Responds to the Strong4Life Campaign ..............................................142 Wann’s STANDard Failed to Take a Stand ..........................................................147 Pro-Fat Identity ........................................................................................148 Militant Motherhood ................................................................................151 Mirror and Match Failure......................................................................... 154 Standing or Sitting for Justice: Countering the Dominant Narrative ...................160 Fat, Fabulous Mother Figure.................................................................... 162 Sitting for Justice...................................................................................... 164 Mother advocate frame ................................................................166 Civil rights frame .........................................................................167 Laughing Medusa frame ..............................................................168 Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 170 6: Conclusions................................................................................................................ 173 References........................................................................................................................ 179 Appendix ..........................................................................................................................222 Curriculum Vitae ..............................................................................................................229 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Courtney Lenz .................................................................................................18 Figure 2: Chris Christie ...................................................................................................19 Figure 3: 2012 S4L Stop the Cycle Video Preview Page ................................................90 Figure 4: 2014 S4L Rewind the Future Video Preview Page.......................................... 90 Figure 5: 2012 S4L Stop the Cycle video Preview Page ................................................90 Figure 6: 2013 S4L “About the Movement” Graphic .....................................................98 Figure 7: 2014 S4L “About the Issue” Graphic ............................................................100 Figure 8: 2013 & 2014 S4L Adult Diseases Child Graphic ..........................................105 Figure 9: 2013 & 2014 S4L Absent Child Graphic....................................................... 106 Figure 10: 2012 S4L Homepage image: Stop the cycle Preview ..................................115 Figure 11: 2012 S4L Homepage image: Maya’s story Preview ....................................117 Figure 12: Strong4Life Print Advertisement ................................................................143 Figure 13: Marilyn Wann STANDard ...........................................................................143 Figure 14: Cowardly Bullies STANDard ......................................................................161 Figure 15: Sitting Mother STANDard........................................................................... 161 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without the knowledge, support, encouragement, and care from many different people. I thank you all. First, a note of special thanks to my advisor Leslie Harris for her guidance and in particular her thoughtful critiques of my work, always pushing me to go further (for example, this dissertation would lack the analysis of mothering without her input). Leslie exemplifies the role of a mentor who helped me to believe in myself even when