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Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Communication

University of Rhode Island

Series

2021

Participatory politics, obesity discourse, body-framing, literacy intervention, youth digital engagement, civic learning

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Education

Media, Obesity Discourse, And Participatory Politics: Exploring Digital Engagement Among University Students, Tao Papaioannou Jul 2021

Media, Obesity Discourse, And Participatory Politics: Exploring Digital Engagement Among University Students, Tao Papaioannou

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

Situated within research on youth, participatory politics, and media framing of obesity, this study examined how undergraduate students in a media literacy course engaged with obesity discourse as a nexus of civic participation. Twenty-nine students enrolled in the course identified frames of obesity in plus-size model Tess Holliday’s Instagram posts surrounding her controversial Cosmopolitan cover in 2018. Analysis of these frames – self-validation, injustice of fat-shaming and stigmatization, influences of Instagram celebrities on fat embodiment, and health stereotypes of obese individuals – enabled the students to understand activist responses to accepted body norms and moral values facilitating weight bias. In …