AFFECTIVITY AND FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY:
AN ANALYSIS OF FATNESS AS A MORAL CODE
Keywords:
Feminine subjectification, affectivity, fatness, subject, bodyAbstract
The objective of this work is to show that the rule that establishes that bodies should be thin, installs a rule for the self. A form of feminine subjectification is articulated in this rule, based on an affective prescription. To show this, we present the results of a study that sought to describe and understand the way in which fat is socially constructed. We worked with a qualitative design, with six mixed discussion groups of young people and adults from the city of Santiago de Chile. In the results it is shown that fatness is constructed as an affective problem that represents a transgression of the norm of "Who loves, takes care of itself". In this sense, fatness is explained affectively. Shame is central to show the binding nature, and therefore subjectifying, that this rule of body size has. These rules are focused on women, for which certain nuances are prescribed. One of them is that they must love themselves to be an object of love for another. The conclusions reflect on the implications of this study to investigate
the processes of female subjectivation from a Foucauldian perspective.
References
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Butler, J. (2007). El género en disputa. Barcelona: Paidos.
Campbell, E. (2010). The Emotional Life of Governamental Power. Foucault Studies, (9), 35–53.
Canales, M., & Peinado, A. (1995). Grupos de discusión. In Métodos y Técnicas de Investigación cualitativa en Ciencias Sociales (pp. 287–316). Barcelona: Síntesis Psicologia.
Coveney, J. (2000). Food, Morals and Meaning. Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasre and Axiety of Eating. Nueva York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203967355
Energici, M. A. (2015). La construcción de la solidaridad como una política neoliberal de la subjetividad: análisis de la publicidad solidaria en Chile. Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Energici, M. A. (2016). Propuesta metodológica para un estudio de gubernamentalidad : Los procesos de subjetivación y los mecanismos de regulación poblacional como ejes de análisis para su abordaje empírico A suggested methodology to study governmentality : Subjectivation proces. Psicoperspectivas, 15(2), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.5027/PSICOPERSPECTIVAS-VOL15-ISSUE2-FULLTEXT-604
Energici, M. A., Acosta, E., Bórquez, F., & Huaiquimilla, M. (2017). Gordura, Discriminación y Clasismo: un Estudio en Jóvenes de Santiago de Chile. Psicologia & Sociedade, 29, 1–10.
Energici, M. A., Acosta, E., Huaiquimilla, M., & Borquez, F. (2016). Feminización de la gordura: estudio cualitativo en Santiago de Chile. Revista de Psicología, 25(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2016.44771
Esteban, M. L. (2013). Antropología del cuerpo. Género, itinerarios corporales, identidad y cambio. Barcelona: Edicions Balleterra.
Fernández Ramírez, B., Esquirol Arias, E., Baleriola Escudero, E., &
Rubio Jiménez, C. (2012). El discurso popular sobre la obesidad: análisis de contenido de una discusión virtual. Aposta: Revista de Ciencias Sociales.
Fikkan, J. L., & Rothblum, E. D. (2012). Is Fat a Feminist Issue? Exploring the Gendered Nature of Weight Bias. Sex Roles, 66, 575–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0022-5
Fischler, C. (1995). El (h)omnívoro. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama.
Foucault, M. (1988). El sujeto y el poder. Revista Mexicana de Psicología, 50(3), 3–20.
Foucault, M. (2002). Historia de la sexualidad. 2 El uso de los placeres. Madrid: Siglo XXI Editores.
Foucault, M. (2005). El poder psiquiátrico. Curso en el College de France 1973 - 1974. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Fraser, S., Maher, J., & Wright, J. (2010). Between bodies and collectivities: Articulating the action of emotion in obesity epidemic discourse. Social Theory & Health, 8(2), 192–209. https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2009.28
Halse, C. (2009). Bio- Citizenship. Virtue discourse and the Birth of the Bio-Citizen. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “Obesity Epidemic”. Governing bodies (pp. 45–59). Nueva York y Oxon: Routledge.
Hopkins, P. (2012). Everyday Politics of Fat. Antipode, 44(4), 1227–1246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00962.x
Kark, M., & Karnehed, N. (2012). Weight status at age 18 influences marriage prospects. A population-based study of Swedish men. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 833–839. Retrieved from http://10.0.4.162/1471-2458-12-833
Lupton, D. (2013). Fat. Nueva York: Routledge.
Major, B., Hunger, J. M., Bunyan, D. P., & Miller, C. T. (2014). The ironic effects of weight stigma. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 51, 74–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.11.009
Maphis, L. E., Martz, D. M., Bergman, S. S., Curtin, L. A., & Webb, R. M. (2013). Body size dissatisfaction and avoidance behavior: How gender, age, ethnicity, and relative clothing size predict what some won’t try. Body Image, 10(3), 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.02.003
Mason, K. (2012). The Unequal Weight of Discrimination : Gender , Body Size , and Income Inequality. Social Problems, 59(3), 411–435. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.411.This
O’Brien, K. S., Latner, J. D., Ebneter, D., & Hunter, J. A. (2013). Obesity discriminatio: the role of physical appearance, personal ideology and anti-fat prejudice. International Journal of Obesity, 37(3), 455–460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0726-1
Peters, L. D. (2014). You are what you wear: How plus-size fashion figures in fat identity formation. Fashion Theory - Journal of Dress Body and Culture, 18(1), 45–71. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174114X13788163471668
Phelan, S. M., Burgess, D. J., Yeazel, M. W., Hellerstedt, W. L., Griffin, J. M., & van Ryn, M. (2015). Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obesity Reviews, 16(4), 319–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12266
Puhl, R. M., Latner, J. D., O’Brien, K., Luedicke, J., Danielsdottir, S., & Forhan, M. (2015). A multinational examination of weight bias: Predictors of anti-fat attitudes across four countries. International Journal of Obesity, 39(7), 1166–1173. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.32
Rose, N. (1996). Identidad, genealogía, historia. In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Cuestiones de identidad cultural (pp. 214–250). Buenoes Aires - Madrid: Amorrortu.
Rose, N. (1998). Inventing ourselves. Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rothblum, E. D. (2011). Fat Studies. In J. Cawley (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Science of Obesity (pp. 173–183). Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.
Saguy, A. (2012). Why Fat is a Feminist Issue. Sex Roles, 66, 600–607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0084-4
Smailes, S. (2014). Negotiating and Navigating my Fat Body - Feminist Autoethnographic Encounters. Athenea Digital, 14(4), 49–61.
Sobal, J. (2008). Sociological Analysis of the Stigmatisation of Obesity. In J. Germov & L. Williams (Eds.), Sociology of nutrition of food & nutrition. The social appetite (Third Edit, pp. 381–400). Melbourn: Oxford Univesity Press.
Sobal, J. (2011). The sociology of obesity. In J. Crawley (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Science of Obesity (pp. 105–119). Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.
Sorense, T. I. A., & Stunkard, A. J. (1993). Does obesity run in families because of genes? An adoption study using silhouettes as a measure of obesity. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 87(370), 67–72.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2002). Bases de la investigación cualitativa. Técnicas y procedimientos para desarrollar la teoría fundamentada. Medellín: Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.
Tischner, I. (2013). Fat Lives. Nueva York: Routledge.
Valles, M. (1999). Técnicas cualitativas de investigación social. Reflexión metodológica y práctica profesional. Madrid: Síntesis Sociología.
Vartanian, L. R., Thomas, M. A., & Vanman, E. J. (2013). Disgust, contempt, and anger and the stereotypes of obese people. Eating and Weight Disorders, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0067-2
Wright, J. (2009). Biopower, Biopedagogies and the Obesity Epidemic. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “Obesity Epidemic”. Governing bodies (pp. 1–14). Nueva York y Oxon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0067-2
Ahmed, S. (2007). The Happiness Turn. New Formations, 63, 7–14.
Aitsi-Selmi, A., Bell, R., Shipley, M. J., & Marmot, M. G. (2014). Education Modifies the Association of Wealth with Obesity in Women in Middle-Income but Not Low-Income Countries: An Interaction Study Using Seven National Datasets, 2005-2010. PLOS ONE, 9(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090403
Bartky, S. L. (1998). Foucault Feminity and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power. In R. Weitz (Ed.), The Politics of Women’s Bodies (pp. 25–45). New Yprk - Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.
Bjerg, H., & Staunaes, D. (2011). Self - management through shame – Uniting governmentality studies and the ‘ affective turn.’ Ephemera, 11(2), 138–156.
Braidotti, R. (2000). Sujetos nómades. Buenos Aires: Paidos.
Butler, J. (2002). Los cuerpos que importan. Sobre los límites materiales y discursivos del sexo. Buenos Aires: Paidos. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-71812012000200027
Butler, J. (2007). El género en disputa. Barcelona: Paidos.
Campbell, E. (2010). The Emotional Life of Governamental Power. Foucault Studies, (9), 35–53.
Canales, M., & Peinado, A. (1995). Grupos de discusión. In Métodos y Técnicas de Investigación cualitativa en Ciencias Sociales (pp. 287–316). Barcelona: Síntesis Psicologia.
Coveney, J. (2000). Food, Morals and Meaning. Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasre and Axiety of Eating. Nueva York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203967355
Energici, M. A. (2015). La construcción de la solidaridad como una política neoliberal de la subjetividad: análisis de la publicidad solidaria en Chile. Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Energici, M. A. (2016). Propuesta metodológica para un estudio de gubernamentalidad : Los procesos de subjetivación y los mecanismos de regulación poblacional como ejes de análisis para su abordaje empírico A suggested methodology to study governmentality : Subjectivation proces. Psicoperspectivas, 15(2), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.5027/PSICOPERSPECTIVAS-VOL15-ISSUE2-FULLTEXT-604
Energici, M. A., Acosta, E., Bórquez, F., & Huaiquimilla, M. (2017). Gordura, Discriminación y Clasismo: un Estudio en Jóvenes de Santiago de Chile. Psicologia & Sociedade, 29, 1–10.
Energici, M. A., Acosta, E., Huaiquimilla, M., & Borquez, F. (2016). Feminización de la gordura: estudio cualitativo en Santiago de Chile. Revista de Psicología, 25(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2016.44771
Esteban, M. L. (2013). Antropología del cuerpo. Género, itinerarios corporales, identidad y cambio. Barcelona: Edicions Balleterra.
Fernández Ramírez, B., Esquirol Arias, E., Baleriola Escudero, E., &
Rubio Jiménez, C. (2012). El discurso popular sobre la obesidad: análisis de contenido de una discusión virtual. Aposta: Revista de Ciencias Sociales.
Fikkan, J. L., & Rothblum, E. D. (2012). Is Fat a Feminist Issue? Exploring the Gendered Nature of Weight Bias. Sex Roles, 66, 575–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0022-5
Fischler, C. (1995). El (h)omnívoro. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama.
Foucault, M. (1988). El sujeto y el poder. Revista Mexicana de Psicología, 50(3), 3–20.
Foucault, M. (2002). Historia de la sexualidad. 2 El uso de los placeres. Madrid: Siglo XXI Editores.
Foucault, M. (2005). El poder psiquiátrico. Curso en el College de France 1973 - 1974. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Fraser, S., Maher, J., & Wright, J. (2010). Between bodies and collectivities: Articulating the action of emotion in obesity epidemic discourse. Social Theory & Health, 8(2), 192–209. https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2009.28
Halse, C. (2009). Bio- Citizenship. Virtue discourse and the Birth of the Bio-Citizen. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “Obesity Epidemic”. Governing bodies (pp. 45–59). Nueva York y Oxon: Routledge.
Hopkins, P. (2012). Everyday Politics of Fat. Antipode, 44(4), 1227–1246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00962.x
Kark, M., & Karnehed, N. (2012). Weight status at age 18 influences marriage prospects. A population-based study of Swedish men. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 833–839. Retrieved from http://10.0.4.162/1471-2458-12-833
Lupton, D. (2013). Fat. Nueva York: Routledge.
Major, B., Hunger, J. M., Bunyan, D. P., & Miller, C. T. (2014). The ironic effects of weight stigma. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 51, 74–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.11.009
Maphis, L. E., Martz, D. M., Bergman, S. S., Curtin, L. A., & Webb, R. M. (2013). Body size dissatisfaction and avoidance behavior: How gender, age, ethnicity, and relative clothing size predict what some won’t try. Body Image, 10(3), 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.02.003
Mason, K. (2012). The Unequal Weight of Discrimination : Gender , Body Size , and Income Inequality. Social Problems, 59(3), 411–435. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2012.59.3.411.This
O’Brien, K. S., Latner, J. D., Ebneter, D., & Hunter, J. A. (2013). Obesity discriminatio: the role of physical appearance, personal ideology and anti-fat prejudice. International Journal of Obesity, 37(3), 455–460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0726-1
Peters, L. D. (2014). You are what you wear: How plus-size fashion figures in fat identity formation. Fashion Theory - Journal of Dress Body and Culture, 18(1), 45–71. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174114X13788163471668
Phelan, S. M., Burgess, D. J., Yeazel, M. W., Hellerstedt, W. L., Griffin, J. M., & van Ryn, M. (2015). Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obesity Reviews, 16(4), 319–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12266
Puhl, R. M., Latner, J. D., O’Brien, K., Luedicke, J., Danielsdottir, S., & Forhan, M. (2015). A multinational examination of weight bias: Predictors of anti-fat attitudes across four countries. International Journal of Obesity, 39(7), 1166–1173. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.32
Rose, N. (1996). Identidad, genealogía, historia. In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Cuestiones de identidad cultural (pp. 214–250). Buenoes Aires - Madrid: Amorrortu.
Rose, N. (1998). Inventing ourselves. Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rothblum, E. D. (2011). Fat Studies. In J. Cawley (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Science of Obesity (pp. 173–183). Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.
Saguy, A. (2012). Why Fat is a Feminist Issue. Sex Roles, 66, 600–607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0084-4
Smailes, S. (2014). Negotiating and Navigating my Fat Body - Feminist Autoethnographic Encounters. Athenea Digital, 14(4), 49–61.
Sobal, J. (2008). Sociological Analysis of the Stigmatisation of Obesity. In J. Germov & L. Williams (Eds.), Sociology of nutrition of food & nutrition. The social appetite (Third Edit, pp. 381–400). Melbourn: Oxford Univesity Press.
Sobal, J. (2011). The sociology of obesity. In J. Crawley (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Science of Obesity (pp. 105–119). Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press.
Sorense, T. I. A., & Stunkard, A. J. (1993). Does obesity run in families because of genes? An adoption study using silhouettes as a measure of obesity. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 87(370), 67–72.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2002). Bases de la investigación cualitativa. Técnicas y procedimientos para desarrollar la teoría fundamentada. Medellín: Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.
Tischner, I. (2013). Fat Lives. Nueva York: Routledge.
Valles, M. (1999). Técnicas cualitativas de investigación social. Reflexión metodológica y práctica profesional. Madrid: Síntesis Sociología.
Vartanian, L. R., Thomas, M. A., & Vanman, E. J. (2013). Disgust, contempt, and anger and the stereotypes of obese people. Eating and Weight Disorders, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0067-2
Wright, J. (2009). Biopower, Biopedagogies and the Obesity Epidemic. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “Obesity Epidemic”. Governing bodies (pp. 1–14). Nueva York y Oxon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0067-2
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Published
2018-05-06
How to Cite
Energici, M. A. (2018). AFFECTIVITY AND FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY:: AN ANALYSIS OF FATNESS AS A MORAL CODE. LÍMITE Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy & Psychology, 13(43). Retrieved from https://revistalimite.uta.cl/index.php/limite/article/view/100
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