Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Anas, Mias And Wannas: Authenticity And Embodiment In Pro-Anorexia Discussion Groups, Natalie Boero, C. Pascoe
Anas, Mias And Wannas: Authenticity And Embodiment In Pro-Anorexia Discussion Groups, Natalie Boero, C. Pascoe
Faculty Publications, Sociology
This paper details the making of community and bodies in online environments, specifically the online pro-anorexia community. Building community among members of these groups is particularly fraught because tensions over claims to authenticity permeate these groups. Because these are embodied practices and online spaces are presumably disembodied, participants constantly grapple with authenticity, largely through the threat of the "wannarexic." This paper documents the way in which tensions around authenticity and embodied practices are managed through treatment of the wannarexic, participating in group rituals, and deployment of individual tools. Participants grapple with these tensions through engaging in offline bodily rituals that …
All The News That’S Fat To Print: The American "Obesity Epidemic" And The Media, Natalie Boero
All The News That’S Fat To Print: The American "Obesity Epidemic" And The Media, Natalie Boero
Faculty Publications, Sociology
Increasingly the term epidemic is being used to describe the current prevalence of fatness in the United States. Skyrocketing rates of obesity among all groups of Americans, particularly children, the poor, and minorities, have become a major public health concern. Indeed, it is difficult to open a newspaper or magazine without encountering a discussion of the expanding American waistline and the health problems associated therewith. In this paper I use 751 New York Times articles on obesity to examine the media construction of the obesity epidemic. I show that there is not one dominant discourse (i.e. medicine) constructing this epidemic, …