Neither good nor useful: looking ad vivum in children's assessments of fat and healthy bodies

Abstract

Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Harwood, Valerie: Neither good nor useful: Looking ad vivum in children's assessments of fat and healthy bodies 2012.

Healthy habits are no fun: How Dutch youth negotiate discourses about food, fit, fat, and fun

“…The emphasis on personal responsibility within healthism discourse illustrates how it is entwined with neoliberalism (Ayo, 2012; LeBesco, 2011). Put simply, fat people are morally condemned when seen through the lens of healthism because they supposedly have failed to take care of themselves (Harwood, 2012; LeBesco, 2004). Biopedagogies—for example, those embedded in education, in government campaigns, and on television and the Internet—function as pedagogical practices through which people are taught how to become healthy and good citizens.…”

“…These numbers dovetail with the findings of earlier studies that suggest that perceived body dissatisfaction is high among Dutch adolescents and that this dissatisfaction has a negative impact on their psychological well-being (Jansen et al, 2008; Ter Bogt et al, 2006). Considering the negative meanings that are attached to fatness in most western settings (Harwood, 2012; LeBesco, 2004; Orbach, 1978; Van Amsterdam, 2013), it would seem that body dissatisfaction and fear of fatness are a big issue for Dutch youth.…”

The healthy child citizen: biopedagogies and web-based health promotion

“…BMI presumes that there is a 'normal' and identifiable weight that is constant and 'true' across genders, time, and cultural and socio-economic boundaries (for a discussion of BMI see Halse 2009). While BMI might be set up as the objective measure and evidence of underweight and overweight, the appearance of the body has come to be taken as demonstrable indicator of health and overweight; overweight 'through looking' is taken to be evidence of ill-health (Harwood 2012). It has thus become difficult for young people to "escape the gaze of the many who now feel that they are either formally or informally 'authorised' by public health discourse to monitor and assess their state of health, essentially with reference to shape and weight" (Evans et al 2008, 6).…”

Between urgent and lifelong matters: overweight children’s voices on health promotion pedagogies

“…The objective is to direct health educational initiatives towards improved dietary habits and physical activity, thus identifying and rectifying negative lifestyle-induced health effects (Bonsmann, 2014;Pigeot et al 2015;Temple & Robinson, 2014). Along with socioeconomic concerns about both long-term and short-term effects of obesity, children's everyday lives and bodies have, as a consequence, increasingly become regarded as a biomedical issue with high societal relevance, which must be monitored, regulated, and controlled to minimize risks (Rich, 2012;Conrad, 1992;Lupton, 1995;Wright & Harwood, 2009;Welch, McMahon & Wright, 2012;Harwood, 2012;De Pian, 2012;From, 2012). Predominant approaches to obesity prevention and views of bodies as in need of control and regulation have, along with epidemiological studies on risks related to childhood obesity (e.g.…”