The Weight of the Word

Abstract

In this article, we examine the ethical and methodological tensions entailed in doing qualitative research in obesity studies. Framing our own embodied engagements through critical social theory, we consider how cultural meanings associated with obesity are silenced and negotiated in the research process. This negotiation is fraught with linguistic and corporeal challenges, beginning with the decision to use (or not use) the word obesity in research materials. Obesity is a visible stigma, and we argue that silencing language does not erase the tacit judgments that accompany discursive categorization. It is in a broader context of power relations that we examine the relationship between researcher and participant bodies and the ways in which collective knowingness about fat bodies underpins methodological engagement. The simultaneous presence and absence of obesity have a significant impact on the research process, in shaping both participants' experiences and the researcher's actions and interpretations.

The lived experiences of being physically active when morbidly obese: A qualitative systematic review

“…A barrier to homecoming was lack of language (Warin & Gunson, 2013 ) to address this group of people with dignity, which was found problematic. It has been considered important to avoid unattractive assumptions in this research on obesity, but as predicted (Burkhauser & Cawley, 2008 ), alternate specifications other than MO has been hard to find.…”

Transforming Health Experience and Action through Shifting the Narrative on Obesity in Primary Care Encounters

“…During data collection, analysis, and written representation, reflexivity is of utmost importance (Holloway & Freshwater, 2007). As researchers and providers, we are present with our bodies in research and need to reflect on how this presence, and what we make of it, shapes our interactions and affects the creation of research knowledge (Warin & Gunson, 2013). Early on during data collection, our team engaged in a purposive exercise to reflect on and bring to awareness how our own embodied experiences with weight shapes our research.…”

The complexities of ‘otherness’: reflections on embodiment of a young White British woman engaged in cross-generation research involving older people in Indonesia

“…I use what Warin and Gunson ( 2013 ) call the ‘O’ word intentionally to indicate my size, but also to draw attention to the social and moral associations that it entails within the dominant UK culture. I am a fit and healthy young(ish) woman who grapples daily with the knowledge that I am labelled, as Warin and Gunson ( 2013 ) describe, a moral failure, a failed citizen – social narratives I have absorbed. But my embodiment of failure is drawn from and lived in a particular time and place, where specific cultural values of the ideal body dominate.…”