Eating disorder prevention as biopedagogy

Date
2017-03-01
Authors
LaMarre, Andrea
Rice, Carla
Jankowski, Glen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract

The authors describe eating disorder prevention as biopedagogy: that is, as a set of expectations for how to manage one’s body and self to be a healthy productive citizen. This biopedagogy lands differently on different “bodies of risk”—those of people coded as at risk for eating disorders and those coded as at risk for “obesity” in a social milieu that marks certain bodies, such as those of different sizes, sexualities, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, genders, and abilities—as unacceptable. In theorizing eating disorder prevention as biopedagogy, the authors consider not only the content of prevention messages, but also conventional notions of the normative self that underpin these messages and hence the form that they take, and how this form conflicts with critical perspectives that view subjectivities as dynamic and in flux. The authors argue for a shift to body becoming pedagogies grounded in social justice and intersectional perspectives, suggesting that systemic changes are needed to make diverse bodies welcome.

Description
Keywords
biopedagogies, eating disorders, feminism, prevention, social justice
Citation
LaMarre, A., Rice, C., & Jankowski, G. (2017). Eating disorder prevention as biopedagogy. Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society, 6(3), 241-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2017.1286906
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