Size acceptance: A discursive analysis of online blogs

ABSTRACT

Dominant discourses of “fatness” and “fat people” have implications for physical and mental health. Although alternative discourses such as “size acceptance” exist, there has been little consideration of the ways in which these alternative arguments (and speakers) may be positioned to be heard. Using a discursive thematic analysis, the authors demonstrate that size acceptance online bloggers have created a community online that enables them to persuasively provide alternative claims to “expertise,” which positions their views as credible and legitimate alternatives to those of more established authority figures—such as health professionals. This has implications not only for the lived experience of fat people, but also for researchers by emphasizing the importance of exploring not just what is said, but how, if we are to understand how different articulated positions are to be persuasive.

KEYWORDS:

• Discursive analysis
• fat
• fat discourse
• fatosphere
• size acceptance

Notes

1. Particularly within the United Kingdom, the society in which this study is based.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kate Davenport

Dr. Kate Davenport is a clinical psychologist working in physical healthcare. Her research interests include identity construction and the body. This research was completed as her doctoral thesis in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.

Wendy Solomons

Dr. Wendy Solomons is a clinical psychologist and clinical lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, England. Her research focuses on critical and constructionist approaches to understanding (and challenging) contemporary constructions of health, identities and life transitions.

Sylvia Puchalska

Dr. Sylvia Puchalska is a clinical psychologist working in applied physical healthcare. She spent five years working within an NHS tier 3 and 4 obesity service, and currently works within an oncology setting. Her research interests have focused on feminist perspectives in identity construction within physical and mental health care settings.

Joanne McDowell

Dr. Joanne McDowell is principal lecturer in applied linguistics at the School of English Language and Communication, University of Hertfordshire, England. She specializes in the area of workplace discourse, gender and language, identity construction, classroom discourse and interactional sociolinguistics.