Health education’s fascist tendencies: a cautionary exposition

Abstract

Along with other scholars in the field, we are increasingly concerned with the propensity for schools to promote particular messages about health, especially those that encourage body surveillance and control. Indeed, we suggest in this article that certain forms of health education can be seen as a form of health fascism. We begin with a discussion of what we mean by health fascism before considering the historical positioning of health education and its alignment with public health agendas. We also consider how health fascism links with established notions of healthism, the cult of the body and aesthetics.

Keywords:

• health education
• health fascism
• healthism