Framing Fat: Competing Constructions in Contemporary Culture

Notes

145 NOTES 1. A Contested Field 1. On fat activism, also see Martin (2002) and Sobal (1999). 2. For an overview of the cultural politics of body size from an anthropological perspective, see Gremillion (2005). 3. On the role of emotions in obesity epidemic discourse, see Fraser, Maher, and Wright (2010). 4. In their typology of “obesity epidemic entrepreneurs,” Lee Monaghan, Robert Hollands, and Gary Pritchard (2010) acknowledge the different roles that parties play in shaping public discourse on fat. Their typology includes creators (what we are labeling “producers”), amplifiers/moralizers, legitimators, supporters, enforcers/administrators, and the entrepreneurial self. 5. In our e-mail communication with CREW on December 9, 2010, inquiring about the outcome of this complaint, we were directed to CREW’s website for any updates. As of September 1, 2012, no new updates about the complaint appeared on CREW’s website, suggesting that the complaint has resulted in no further action and remains unresolved. 6. Membership data is based on our June 16, 2011, communication with NAAFA’s Membership and Member Services director, Phyllis Warr. 7. That would also be appropriately labeled a “medical” or “biomedical” frame. We consistently use the term “health” for the sake of simplicity. 8. Kwan discusses all four frames extensively in previous work (see Kwan 2007; 2009b; 2009c), and this book builds off of, and elaborates upon, these previous works. 2. Fat as Frightful 1. Because many advertisements are not archived in a way that lends to their being cited, some of our citations necessarily refer to third-party sources that make mention of the profiled advertisements but do not point directly to their primary sources. As a result, we have provided primary sources whenever possible and the best secondary sources whenever necessary. 2. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.) defines “frightful” as “tending to cause fright; alarming” and “horrible to contemplate, shocking, dreadful, revolting.” We have opted to use the term “frightful” because it connotes something that cannot be seen in a positive light and is to be avoided at all costs. 3. On criticisms of the gendered nature of the mind-body dualism, see Bordo (1986). 4. The original Anti-Gym, founded in Denver, Colorado, shut down in January 2009 as a result of problems with the Internal Revenue Service (Husted 2009). It reportedly owed nearly $200,000 in back taxes (Maher 2009). The owner, Michael Karolchyk, relocated to California, where he opened an Anti-Gym in San Diego (Husted 2009); however, this 146 Notes location also went out of business in 2010. Karolchyk has since made a name for himself by appearing in various media outlets such as Fox Business (2011), America’s Morning News (CBS Houston 2011), and Dr. Phil (2010). 5. As seen in, for example, posts on the Yahoo! Fat Studies discussion group. 6. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance endorses fat admiration but is quick tocritiquefatfetishism,notingthatitiscoerciveanddangerous(NAAFA2011k,“Feederism”). However, some scholars have been less critical of fat fetishism (see LeBesco 2004). 7. Today, the notion that fat is frightful and slender is sexy seems to be a taken-for-granted part of the American cultural landscape. Many of the studies documenting Americans’ aesthetic opinions of fat thus date from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. 3. Fat as Fatal 1. On historical changes in obesity criteria, see Kuczmarski and Flegal (2000). 2. BMI = mass (kg) / height (m)2 . 3. We acknowledge that public health officials express greater concern about the social consequences when it comes to overweight and obese children. This may be due to increased social awareness of bullying in recent years. For example, the Let’s Move! (2012b) campaign acknowledges that overweight and obese children can be the targets of social discrimination and stigmatization, both of which can cause low self-esteem. Web pages devoted specifically to childhood obesity also acknowledge that “obese children and adolescents have a greater risk of social and psychological problems such as discrimination and poor self-esteem” (CDC 2012b). 4. 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 5. For a recent review on obesity and inequality, see Lee (2011). 6. Whitney Houston, vocal performance of “Greatest Love of All,” by Michael Masser and Linda Creed, on Whitney Houston, Arista ARCD 8212, 1985, compact disc. 7. Interestingly, while the CCF argues that 35 million were affected, other sources, including the one we reference earlier in chapter 3 (Cohen and McDermott 1998), indicate that the redefinition affected 25 million individuals. Other sources indicate the figure at 29 million (e.g., Squires...