Fat Blame :How the War on Obesity Victimizes Women and Children

Publication subTitle :How the War on Obesity Victimizes Women and Children

Author: Herndon > April Michelle  

Publisher: University Press of Kansas‎

Publication year: 2014

E-ISBN: 9780700620333

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780700619658

Subject: R589.2 fat metabolism disorder

Keyword: 社会学,工人、农民、青年、妇女运动与组织

Language: ENG

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Description

A four year old Mexican American girl is taken away from her parents because she is obese and experiencing health problems related to her weight. Such a measure, once seen as extreme, quickly comes to be seen as a logical means of addressing a problem viewed as nothing short of child abuse. And yet, for all the purported concern for these children's welfare, little if any mention is ever made of the psychological ramifications of removing children from their families. They are simply the latest victims of the war on obesity—a war declared on a "disease" but conducted, April Herndon contends in this book, along cultural lines.

Fat Blame is a book about how the war on obesity is, in many ways, shaping up to be a battle against women and children, especially women and children who are marginalized via class and race. While conceding that fatness can be linked to certain conditions, or that some populations might be heavier than others, Herndon is more interested in the ways women and children are blamed for obesity and the ways interventions aimed at preventing obesity are problematic in and of themselves. From bariatric surgeries being performed on children to women being positioned as responsible for carrying to term a generation of thin children, her book looks closely at the stories of real people whose lives are drastically altered by interventions that are supposedly for their own good.

As with so many practices surrounding bodies and hea

Chapter

1. Children First: Maternal Ideology in the War on Obesity

2. There's No Place Like Home: Fatness and Families in the Courts

3. Public and Private Shame: Using Children as Message Boards

4. What If the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease?: How We Treat Children in the Age of Obesity

Conclusion: A Cramped Room

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover

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