wgst 202 day 17 body & power
DESCRIPTION
WGST 202TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Sara DiazWGST 202: Gender, Difference, and PowerGonzaga University
Women’s Bodies
Discussion – Garland-Thomson
• How does Rosemarie Garland Thompson undermine negative stereotypes of women with disabilities? • How do stereotypes of women with
disabilities deny their sexuality? • How does this affect their access to
reproductive healthcare?
Pathologizing Women’s Bodies
Pathologize – to define something as a pathology or sickness.
Women’s Bodies Pathologized
• Body types that conform to norms of beauty/health are preferred. • Other body types are shamed and some are even
pathologized.• Some bodies that cannot conform are considered sick• Too Fat• Too Short• Too old• Neurologically different• Differently formed• Non-reproductive• Gender Non-conforming
Women : Disabled Men
• BUT, as Garland-Thompson argued, all women’s bodies fail to conform to the male standard.
• In this way all women’s bodies are pathologized.
• How do we pathologize women’s bodies?
Women & Size
• Weight discrimination as prevalent as racism (Puhl et al. 2008)• Stigmatizing fatness affects women of all sizes• Eating disorders on the rise since 1950
• No-win situation for women:• Thin-shaming• Fat-shaming
• Two sides of the same coin: Body Policing
Facts about Dieting and ED• 40-60% of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their
weight or about becoming too fat. This concern endures through life (Smolak, 2011).
• 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (Shisslak, Crago, & Estes, 1995).
• 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years (Grodstein, Levine, Spencer, Colditz, &Stampfer, 1996; Neumark-Sztainer, Haines, Wall, & Eisenberg, 2007).
• Even among clearly non-overweight girls, over 1/3 report dieting (Wertheim et al., 2009).
• 91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting. 22% dieted “often” or “always.”(Shisslak et al. 1995)
Health and ED
• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.• Risks:• Osteoporosis• Damage to teeth/oral health• Kidney damage• Electrolyte imbalances• Peptic Ulcers• Pancreatitis• Type 2 Diabetes
NIH Research Funds (2011)
Alzheim
er's
Autism
Schizo
phrenia
Eating D
isord
ers $-
$10.00 $20.00 $30.00 $40.00 $50.00 $60.00 $70.00 $80.00 $90.00
$100.00 $88.00
$44.00
$81.00
$0.93
$ Spent/ Affected Person
$/person
Facts about Health• You can’t tell anything about a persons health by looking at
them.• What other measure’s of health do we use?• Metabolic health• Cardiovascular fitness
• Healthy Habits Study• Meso/Macro level Obstacles to Health• Lack of time/space• Food desserts• Lack of access to healthcare• Stigmatization• Social Inequality -> Health Disparities
Healthy Habits
0 1 2 3 40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Ideal Overweight Obese
Number of Healthy Habits
Haz
ard
Ratio
Healthy Habits• Don’t Smoke• Drink in moderation• Eat >5 Fruits and Vegetables a Day• Exercise 3 times/week
Response Question
According to Chernik, how are eating disorders related to women's lack of social and political power?
What solutions does Chernik offer to take back that power?
Power & The Body
•What conclusions can we draw based about the place of the body in our social order?