Representations of fatness in Parents magazine: A critical discourse analysis

ABSTRACT

The authors investigate bodily pressures targeted at mothers through parenting magazines in a neoliberal cultural context. Theoretically rooted Foucault’s framework of biopower, the authors applied Foucauldian critical discourse analysis to examine messaging related to food and weight in Parents magazine. Findings highlight three key problematic discourses: (a) food practices are moral, physical, and emotional decisions made by mothers; (b) women—including mothers—have a moral obligation to seek a thin, fit body and to model weight/body maintenance activities for their children; and (c) fat children are inherently unhealthy and at risk of becoming fat adults. These discourses are critically assessed within the context of present literature related to mother blame, with layered analyses of race and gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Parenting
• mother blame
• fat parenthood
• media representation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katie Cook

Katie Cook is a PhD candidate in the Community Psychology program, Psychology Department, Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Their work focuses on how weight-based stigma moves intergenerationally.

Ciann L. Wilson

Dr. Ciann L. Wilson is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Program of Community Psychology, at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Her lived experience as a Black woman has shaped her research interests in community-based research; African diasporic and Indigenous communities; and anti-colonial and critical race theories.