ABSTRACT
This headline suggests a popularized image of teenage girls today. I argue here that it also represents a major discourse which can, in itself, put girls and young women at risk. That discourse is about the body, fitness, health and female subjectivity and in it the female body is problematized in ways which are healthcompromising: a ‘health-ist’ discourse. Schools may reinforce or challenge the discourse, directly through physical and health education programmes, and also through the whole school context. This paper explores the ramifications of the health-ist discourse for young female subjectivity, and asks if feminist educators can develop a practice of health and physical education that interrogates ‘healthism’. During my participation as researcher-evaluator in an innovative primary school health education project (Health in Primary Schools, known as HIPS), I became aware how soon girls become self-conscious and concerned about their bodies, especially their weight, and the ways that teachers saw the attainment of particular body characteristics as a goal in their health and fitness programmes. Teachers were asked to rate the perceived importance to children’s health of various health and physical education activities, and were tested on their knowledge of some basic biomedical aspects of nutrition and fitness. Their basic dietary knowledge reflected current orthodoxy in Australia (the national food and nutrition guidelines), but they were weak on knowledge of factors contributing to weight and its loss, and on aerobic fitness. Their practice focused on introducing new physical activities with their class and cooking lessons, rather than on biology, sexuality or specifically targeted activities for girls. More cooperative games and more self-esteem activities were undertaken by teachers in the project schools than in matched schools (Burns, 1991; Sheehan and Burns, 1993).
