Sin or Slim?: Christian morality and the politics of personal choice in a secular commercial weight loss setting
Is fat a sin? Popular knowledge' about obesity which frames fat as an avoidable behavioural condition would certainly suggest it can be blamed on the fat person. Discourses of health reproduced within public policy and media reporting assist in the pathologization of fat bodies, insisting that...
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| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Lade...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Equinox
[2013]
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| In: |
Fieldwork in religion
Jahr: 2013, Band: 8, Heft: 1, Seiten: 92-109 |
| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Choice
B Morality B fat B weight loss B Syn/sin |
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Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Zusammenfassung: | Is fat a sin? Popular knowledge' about obesity which frames fat as an avoidable behavioural condition would certainly suggest it can be blamed on the fat person. Discourses of health reproduced within public policy and media reporting assist in the pathologization of fat bodies, insisting that fat is the result of unhealthy lifestyle choices. It is, however, not simply medical interpretations of fat that facilitate this moral discourse. Religion also provides an important source of moral judgment. This paper draws on my qualitative research inside a UK secular, commercial slimming group to consider how the Christian moral language of sin functions within this setting to construct a politics of choice that holds the dieter personally responsible for her fat. Interpreting weight loss and weight gain as a measure of moral character, this theological language assists in the operation of normative conformity', conforming women's bodies to cultural knowledge about fat. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-0623 |
| Enthält: | Enthalten in: Fieldwork in religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/firn.v8i1.92 |