This paper makes use of critical discourse analysis and Bourdieu's theoretical framework to explore rural young women's meanings of health and fitness and how the healthism discourse is perpetuated through their experiences in school physical education. The young women's own meanings are explored alongside interview data from their school physical education head of department. The healthism discourse was evident in the way that the young women spoke of physical activity, health, fitness and their bodies. They viewed health and fitness as being important to control body shape and adhered to a stereotypical feminine appearance as ideal. The data also illustrates how a school Health and Physical Education Head of Department's own engagements with the healthism discourse and the school's Health and Physical Education curriculum shaped the young women's understandings of health and fitness and their bodies. Data presented in this paper are drawn from an Australian longitudinal, qualitative project involving interview and visual collection methods. The longitudinal nature of the data adds to existing research by demonstrating the durability of the healthism discourse as it is perpetuated through physical education even up to two years postschool. Understanding how the healthism discourse is reproduced through social structures such as the school, and how it perpetuates traditional meanings and approaches to physical activity has important implications for the generation of physical activity and health promotion initiatives.
Studies from around the world point to the inadequate participation of young people in physical activity and sport, and the consequences of this on their health. However, very few interventions to increase the levels of physical activity amongst young people have been sustainable. The aim of this paper is to use Bourdieu's notions of the logic of practice along with habitus and capital to theorise young people's participation in physical activities to add to the wealth of empirical material. Data are drawn from a cohort of rural participants in an Australian longitudinal, qualitative research project with young people from diverse social, cultural and geographical backgrounds. It was found that traditional rural gender roles impact on young women's perceptions of legitimate physical activity options and practices. The role of the family in the reproduction of the social order which sustains gendered understandings of physical activity is also explored. This paper demonstrates how Bourdieu's theories can be applied to explain gender distinctions in health behaviours. It is proposed that building bridges between epidemiological and sociological understandings of participation in physical activities will lead to the generation of more equitable and sustainable physical activity and health promotion initiatives.
This paper explores rural young people's perceptions of their local environments in relation to their experiences with physical activities through the use of visual methodologies. The main findings from map, photo and interview data from thirteen rural young Australians included the importance of friends, family, and gender structures which are discussed in relation to developing a sense of place and how this shapes their experience in physical activities. The findings highlight the importance of sociocultural issues and raises questions regarding measuring physical activity prompting further qualitative research to inform sustainable and equitable physical activity promotion initiatives for rural young people.
The emphasis on body weight and the terms 'fat', 'overweight' and 'obese' are increasingly political in public health promotion. The UK government's 2009-2011 social marketing campaign, Change4Life explicitly avoids the term 'obesity' and imagery that connotes it, despite the emphasis on obesity in the preceding research, policy and strategy. Using a critical health psychology perspective, this research explores the tensions arising from the omission of 'obesity' in the Change4Life campaign. We argue the justifications for omitting obesity are at times contrary to evidence that informed the campaign. Considerations are offered for the construction of future health promotion campaigns.
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