The Role of the Fatosphere in Fat Adults’ Responses to Obesity Stigma

Abstract

Obese adults face pervasive and repeated weight-based stigma. Few researchers have explored how obese individuals proactively respond to stigma outside of a dominant weight-loss framework. Using a grounded theory approach, we explored the experiences of 44 bloggers within the Fatosphere--an online fat-acceptance community. We investigated participants' pathways into the Fatosphere, how they responded to and interacted with stigma, and how they described the impact of fat acceptance on their health and well-being. The concepts and support associated with the fat-acceptance movement helped participants shift from reactive strategies in responding to stigma (conforming to dominant discourses through weight loss) to proactive responses to resist stigma (reframing "fat" and self-acceptance). Participants perceived that blogging within the Fatosphere led them to feel more empowered. Participants also described the benefits of belonging to a supportive community, and improvements in their health and well-being. The Fatosphere provides an alternative pathway for obese individuals to counter and cope with weight-based stigma.

Obesity in social media: a mixed methods analysis

“…There exist supportive online communities that provide compassionate, nonjudgmental spaces for individuals to share weight-related experiences and efforts. Over time, these interactions may improve self-esteem and resilience to stigma [5,15,22].…”

“…Supportoriented blogs and forums are health-promoting communities that offer a safe place where members' bodies are accepted, and allow participants to understand, negotiate, and, at times, reject the marginalized identity ascribed to them in their offline environment [38]. This type of supportive dialogue can be empowering [5]. As such, social media must not be viewed simply as breeding grounds for weight stigma, but also environments that can insulate overweight individuals from stigma.…”

Thinspiration vs. thicksperation: Comparing pro-anorexic and fat acceptance image posts on a photo-sharing site

“…Research on fatosphere blogs has found that users connect over the common experience of feeling uncomfortable about one's body at an early age (Dickins et al, 2011). Members of the fat acceptance community may also characterize themselves as having similar beliefs regarding social norms and stigmatization.…”

“…An outsider would be someone who has internalized the stigma that being fat is unhealthy and socially undesirable. For example, fatosphere blog communities will automatically remove any content that indicates self-loathing messages (Dickins et al, 2011). An outsider of this community would be someone who succumbs to ideologies surrounding being overweight and being unhealthy (Anderson, 2012;Campos, 2005;Ernsberger & Haskew, 1997;Harding, 2007;Satinsky & Ingraham, 2014).…”

“…This community has been named the fatosphere and is composed of bloggers and Internet users who are overweight and promote the ethic of fat acceptance. The fatosphere aims for acceptance of one's body and rejects the notion that one's body is unacceptable if it does not conform to societal norms of being thin (Dickins, Thomas, King, Lewis, & Holland, 2011). Although this movement is less widely known than the proanorexic movement, it is slowly beginning to receive attention.…”