The Sociological Imagination and Fat Acceptance

Kate Harding today writes about the "fat gap", a term used to describe the alleged inability of obese people to identify that they are, in fact, obese. It's an excellent read, even if you're familiar with the topic -- to paraphrase Kate, she intended for it to be the definitive post on the subject.

What always surprises me about discussions of fat and obesity is that people who might be willing to take a critical eye to other similar phenomena will sometimes revert to an individualistic, blaming paradigm when the topic comes up. For some reason, some people just seem to have a hard time getting over that, even though you hardly have to scratch the surface of the obesity "epidemic" to find a ton of sociological issues at play -- labelling, medicalization, and the creation of a moral panic, to name a few.

Taking a sociological view of fat does not mean, as some might think, that we're stripping the individual of agency and explaining all hir outcomes as the result of vaguely defined social forces. Rather, it means recognizing the complexity of the issue -- for example, realizing that there are powerful interests at work, interests who benefit from the presentation of obesity as a disease curable through drugs or treatments.

Introduction sociology courses often present drug use in this manner, pointing out the inconsistencies in the conventional view that legal drugs (tobacco, alcohol, caffeine) are less harmful than their illegal counterparts, particularly marihuana. If introduction classes are about really shaking up students' world views and getting them to develop a sociological imagination, then I think talking about fat might be an even better way of doing that. If handled properly, perhaps with an outstanding guest lecturer like Kate, such discussions could have other benefits in terms of advancing fat acceptance, as well.