Schooled on Fat: What Teens Tell Us About Gender, Body Image, and Obesity (Innovative Ethnographies)

Obesity Has Dominated Popular Media As One Of The Most Pressing Issues Of The New Millennium. In The Us, High Rates Of Obesity, And By Extension, Fat People Are Often Blamed For Rising Health-care Costs And A Weakening Of National Security. What Does It Mean To Be Considered Fat During A Time When Obesity Is Framed As A Threat? When Body Fat Is The Enemy, How Does The Line Between Acceptable And Too Fat Get Defined Moment-to-moment As People Make Value Judgments About Each Other’s Bodies In The Course Of Everyday Life? Nicole Taylor Explores How Teens Navigated The Fraught Realities Of Body Image Within A High School Culture That Reinforced Widespread Beliefs About Body Size As A Matter Of Personal Responsibility While Offering Limited Opportunity To Exercise And An Abundance Of Fattening Junk Foods. Drawing On Daily Observations, Interviews, And Focus Groups With Teens, Schooled On Fat Takes The Reader Into Their Lives To Show How, Through Everyday Language, They Managed Their Body Size, Social Status, And Identities As Body-conscious Individuals. Taylor Traces Policy Efforts To Illustrate Where We Are As A Nation In Addressing Childhood Obesity And Offers Practical Strategies Schools And Parents Can Utilize To Promote Teen Wellness. -- Provided By Publisher. Introduction -- About My Study -- You Can't Have Your Fat Showing -- Guys, She's Humongous! -- When I Run My Legs Jiggle -- It's All Going To Turn Into Fat -- So What? What Now? -- Appendix. Nicole Taylor. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 165-176) And Index. Obesity has dominated popular media as one of the most pressing issues of the new millennium. In the US, high rates of obesity, and by extension, fat people are often blamed for rising health-care costs and a weakening of national security. What does it mean to be considered fat during a time when obesity is framed as a threat? When body fat is the enemy, how does the line between "acceptable" and "too fat" get defined moment-to-moment as people make value judgments about each other s bodies in the course of everyday life? Nicole Taylor explores how teens navigated the fraught realities of body image within a high school culture that reinforced widespread beliefs about body size as a matter of personal responsibility while offering limited opportunity to exercise and an abundance of fattening junk foods. Drawing on daily observations, interviews, and focus groups with teens, "Schooled on Fat" takes the reader into their lives to show how, through everyday language, they managed their body size, social status, and identities as body-conscious individuals. Taylor traces policy efforts to illustrate where we are as a nation in addressing childhood obesity and offers practical strategies schools and parents can utilize to promote teen wellness." Winner of the Reader Views Literary Award, Societal Issues and the Reviewers Choice Best Non-fiction Book of the Year, Specialty Awards, Schooled on Fat explores how body image, social status, fat stigma and teasing, food consumption behaviors, and exercise practices intersect in the daily lives of adolescent girls and boys. Based on nine months of fieldwork at a high school located near Tucson, Arizona, the book draws on social, linguistic, and theoretical contexts to illustrate how teens navigate the fraught realities of body image within a high school culture that reinforced widespread beliefs about body size as a matter of personal responsibility while offering limited opportunity to exercise and an abundance of fattening junk foods. Taylor also traces policy efforts to illustrate where we are as a nation in addressing childhood obesity and offers practical strategies schools and parents can use to promote teen wellness. This book is ideal for courses on the body, fat studies, gender studies, language and culture, school culture and policy, public ethnography, deviance, and youth culture. "Schooled on Fat explores how body image, social status, fat stigma and teasing, food consumption behaviors, and exercise practices intersect in the daily lives of adolescent girls and boys. Based on nine months of fieldwork at a high school located near Tucson, Arizona, the book draws on social, linguistic, and theoretical contexts to illustrate how teens navigate the fraught realities of body image within a high school culture that reinforced widespread beliefs about body size as a matter of personal responsibility while offering limited opportunity to exercise and an abundance of fattening junk foods. Taylor also traces policy efforts to illustrate where we are as a nation in addressing childhood obesity and offers practical strategies schools and parents can use to promote teen wellness. This book is ideal for courses on the body, fat studies, gender studies, language and culture, school culture and policy, public ethnography, deviance, and youth culture"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 8 Contents 9 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 15 Introduction 17 1. About My Study 27 2. “You Can’t Have Your Fat Showing” 42 3. “Guys, She’s Humongous!” 70 4. “When I Run My Legs Jiggle” 97 5. “It’s All Going to Turn into Fat” 124 6. So What? What Now? 145 Appendix 158 References 167 Index 182 Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- About my study -- "You can't have your fat showing"--"Guys, she's humongous!"--"When i run my legs jiggle"--"It's all going to turn into fat"--So what? what now? -- Appendix research methods -- References -- Index 1. "You Can’t Have Your Fat Showing" 2. "Guys, She’s Humongous!" 3. "When I Run My Legs Jiggle" 4. "It’s All Going to Turn into Fat" 5. So What? What Now?