Heavy by Shugart Helene A.;

Author:Shugart, Helene A.; [Shugart, Helene A.;]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780190210625
Publisher: OxfordUP
Published: 2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Excess Autonomy

In very different ways, gender also drives another prominent and visible variation of the resistive narrative response to the conventional account of obesity: defiant decadence. Unlike the fat acceptance variation, this one is fairly straightforwardly and explicitly reactive: that is, it draws itself diametrically and absolutely against not only normative notions of appropriate body size but, especially, official or conventional ideas, practices, or policies designed to ensure that size. While this variation of the resistive narrative echoes the defiance and rebellious that is attached to white Southerners in the cultural narrative of obesity, here it is not attached to a practice of cultural (read: raced/ethnic) identity as opposed to abstract ideals of nation and masculinity, especially at their intersection. This narrative thread is mobilized in excessive consumption—the right thereto as well as the practice—and unapologetically overweight or obese white male bodies.

Defiant decadence is most commonly available in the mainstream as a principle apparent in reactions to attempts to regulate “obesogenic” foods or practices. Perhaps most notorious among those attempts are former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s various proposals during his tenure—some successful, some not—to promote healthier eating practices in the city, such as banning the use of trans fats by restaurants; requiring restaurants to post nutritional information regarding their fare; and regulating the size of container in which sugary drinks may be sold. While criticism of these efforts included concerns about disproportionate impact on some (especially poor) populations; arbitrariness of application; and economic impact, the vast majority of conversation in the mainstream revolved around charges of “nanny statism,” even when that characterization was posed as a point of debate. The obvious counterpoint to that model, of course, is the (often hyper-) assertion of individual rights, which in the United States is frequently conflated with nation: again, the notion of individual liberty has long been and continues to be the conceptual foundation of US cultural identity and attendant political and economic philosophies and practices, and it is taken up narratively in this case in extreme and literal ways. Moreover, as perhaps signaled by the disdainful “nanny” designation to characterize the regulations, reactions are often masculinist in tone, augmenting the already arguably masculinist underpinnings of individualism and autonomy as culturally construed.61

As relevant to the regulation and control of food, then—the “governmentality of girth”62—resistance is articulated in the form of the endorsement and/or practice of the right to unlimited consumption: “those who want a large soda and are prevented from buying one [are] ‘going to display what we call reactance—a rebelliousness, a determination to circumvent this policy, an attitude of “I’ll show them.” ’ ”63 Certainly, this dynamic is apparent in mainstream accounts of Bloomberg’s efforts:

We often hear about how freedom is under attack in the United States—that the government is slowly but surely encroaching on our rights. This may have been true in a gradual sense over the last several decades, but in more recent years we are seeing increased attempts to control, by government decree, our behavior and free will. Since

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