Stories that matter: subverting the before-and-after weight-loss narrative

“Keep moving forward. LEFT RIGHT LEFT”: A critical metaphor analysis and addressivity analysis of personal and professional obesity blogs

“…In a typical before-after news article, descriptions of a person's past fatness are allocated to the shortest paragraph of the news article, conveying the message that "this epoch" is a relatively brief period, neatly "cordoned-off" from longer periods of what comes "after" (Maor, 2014: 95). Contrary to such before-after narratives which invariably associate the "before" period with unhappiness (Maor, 2014), bloggers' narratives suggested that weight gain can take considerable time and is not entirely negative:…”

“…In a health context, "personal journals" offer an opportunity to review whether and how mainstream health and illness narratives are reworked online (Page, 2012). Advertisements, health magazine articles, television infomercials and news reports typically have a before-after narrative structure, which presents fatness as temporary and weight loss efforts as following a linear trajectory leading to weight loss (Ata & Thompson, 2010;Blaine & McElroy, 2002;Geier et al, 2003;Maor, 2014;Puhl & Heuer, 2009). These narratives derive from the wider before-after framework prominent in Western societies, which sees modernity as unidirectional progression from the past to a desired future (Levy-Navarro, 2009;Maor, 2014).…”

Fat studies – et felt, der vokser

“…Et vigtigt formål for fat-feministiske analyser af kroppen var og er da en kritik, der går i retning af de (bogstaveligt talt) meget smalle idealer og snaevre opfattelser af, hvordan kroppen «bør» se ud (se fx Bordo 1993). Et saerligt interesse-og forskningsområde omfatter «klassiske» feministiske analyser og diskussioner af fx kropslig erfaring, disciplinering og skønhedsidealer -et bredt fokus, der ofte bringer slankeindustrien, vaegtkorrigerende kirurgi, skønhedskonkurrencer og slankekure i fokus (som eksempler kan naevnes: Chapkis 1988;Wolf 1991;Saukko 2006 (om slankekure og skønhed), Cohen, Wilk og Stoeltje 1996; Banet-Weiser og Portwood-Stacer 2006 (om skønhedskonkurrencer), Davis 2003, Maor 2014 (om kropsmodifikation og vaegttab)). Trods interessefaellesskabet med feminismen var antifedmehad-perspektiver dog langt fra selvskrevne i feministiske diskussioner og analyser af kroppen, og den tykke krop forblev derfor tit og ofte en overset kategori.…”

Three strategies for doing narrative resistance: Navigating between master narratives

“…Individuals are not conceived as passive recipients of master narratives, but as capable of transforming them through ‘narrative resistance’ (Ronai & Cross, 1998). In this spirit, counter‐narratives have been touted as vehicles of de‐stigmatization (Maor, 2014; Toolis & Hammack, 2015), liberating and emancipating by voicing marginalized groups (Delgado, 1989; McKenzie‐Mohr & Lafrance, 2017; Solorzano & Yosso, 2002), and even repairing ‘damaged identities’ (Nelson, 2001).…”

“…Although some recent empirical works on counter‐narratives adhere to the oppositional perspective (Harper, 2009), most studies draw on the relational view, showing that ‘the potential for resistance offered by a counter‐narrative does not arise by shaping one monolithic and unified story that counters the master’ (Lundholt et al , 2018, p. 2). Rather, personal narratives counter some components of the master narratives while accepting others (Fisher & Goodley, 2007; Graziano et al , 2018; Jones, 2004; Leontini, 2010; Maor, 2014; Throsby, 2004; Toolis & Hammack, 2015).…”