ABSTRACT
Media representations of health and fitness are often framed within obesity epidemic, fear of fatness and moral panic discourses (Boero 2007; Bonfiglioli et al. 2007; Saguy and Almeling 2008; Saguy and Riley, 2005). However, a growing body of critical literature (e.g., Bovey 2000; Brabazon 2006; Campos et al. 2006; Evans-Braziel and LeBesco 2001; LeBesco 2004; Throsby 2007; Tischner and Malson 2008) challenges morality-based fears around fatness and overweight at cultural and individual levels. Such literature argues for the revaluing and politicization of fat bodies: one can be “fit and fat” and/or not all women’s fitness needs to focus on thinness. Moreover, this scholarship is important because it deconstructs taken-for-granted assumptions associated with fitness and fatness so that healthy and empowering forms of physical activity for women can be located.
