Description
Book SynopsisBy investigating how contemporary cultural discourses of childhood obesity are experienced by children, Laura Backstrom illustrates how deeply fat stigma is internalized during the early socialization experiences of children.
Trade Review"
Weighty Problems is an engaging and well-written exploration of the ways in which current cultural framings of childhood obesity are experienced by children. In focusing on how children navigate the cultural meanings of fatness, Backstrom shows that the internalization of these messages carries over into adulthood." -- Natalie Boero * author of Killer Fat *
"Fat camps are ostensibly designed to help kids lose weight by a compulsory diet. Like every other diet, it does not work. What the kids take away and keep is that their self-worth depends on their body size and that they do not measure up to societal expectations, learning that they must change themselves rather than celebrate what makes us all different
. Weighty Problems is a wake-up call to adults to rethink what we are teaching children. A must-read for those interested in child health and well-being." -- Abigail C. Saguy * author of What’s Wrong with Fat? *
"Recommended." * Choice *
Table of ContentsContents
1 Embodied Inequality, Childhood Obesity, and the “Problem Child”
2 Studying Camp Odyssey
3 Learning Embodied Inequality through Social Comparisons
4 “It’s Not A Fat Camp:” The Decision to Attend Camp
5 Change Your Body, Change Yourself: Camp Resocialization
6 The Benefits of Weight Loss Camp…and the Dark Side
7 “They Were Born Lucky:” Weight Attribution among the Campers
8 Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Index
