Media and the Ideal Body

This chapter looks at the differences and similarities between social media and traditional forms of media as it relates to body diversity representation. Participants argued that the similarity in traditional media and social media was in the numerous instances of anti-fat bias in characters, stories, advertisements, and basic assumptions. Participants also discussed the issue of the body positivity movement being co-opted by both corporations and thin-to-average-size white women. Conversation often turned to well-known figures such as Ashley Graham, Lizzo, Tess Holiday, and popular narratives about fatness in clothing, marketing, etc. Participants discussed the limits to body positivity, while also disagreeing with the ability to use a body neutrality movement for positive change. Instead, the majority of the participants stated that fat liberation was needed, and that where body positivity or body neutrality could be used was in very-limited-to-no circumstances.