Samantha Kwan

Individual versus Corporate Responsibility

Abstract There is widespread belief that the fat body is a product of individual choice. However, in recent years, public discourse has begun to acknowledge environmental influences on body size. For example, nutritionists now point to the food industrys role in creating a “toxic environment” that facilitates weight gain. This paper explores how the food industry shapes consumption patterns, various public responses to induce corporate responsibility, and the food industrys position on fat—a “market-choice frame” that emphasizes agency. Additionally, using original survey data (n = 456) and interview data (n = 42), the paper examines the resonance of this industry frame. As a whole, the data point to support for industry views, a strong belief in individual responsibility, and the pervasiveness of moral models of fatness. The social implications of these findings are discussed.

Is There Really “More to Love”?: Gender, Body, and Relationship Scripts in Romance-Based Reality Television

More to Love, a romance-themed reality television program featuring an all-plus-sized cast, touts itself as a progressive portrayal of “real” women bordering on fat activism. A qualitative content analysis of the program, however, reveals a contradictory and more complex story about gender, body, and relationships. On the one hand, More to Love acknowledges the reality of size and works to debunk several myths about fat women and men. On the other hand, the show negatively depicts fat and also reinforces traditional gender stereotypes along with the age-old fairy tale script that equates heterosexual partnership with happiness. An analysis of these media depictions puts a new spin on an old story and reveals new theoretical understandings about gender, body equality, and romantic relations. Ultimately, the show conveys a superficial form of body equality where fat women too can be loved, but only if they are willing to overexaggerate their femininity and submit themselves to external validation via the objectifying male gaze.

Judging Books by Their Covers Teaching about Physical Attractiveness Biases

Sociologists have developed a wide range of pedagogical strategies to facilitate student learning about racial/ethnic, class, and gender inequalities. Despite the growing subdiscipline of the sociology of the body and evidence pointing to the prevalence of inequalities based on physical attractiveness, the pedagogical literature has yet to develop strategies for teaching students about biases based on physical attractiveness. In this article, the authors report on a pedagogical module that involves student evaluations of photographs (depicting individuals ranging in levels of physical attractiveness) using semantic differential scales, and discuss the results of this evaluation. The authors test for student learning outcomes through (1) a one-group pretest-posttest design and (2) an assessment survey with both qualitative and quantitative components. Because this photograph evaluation typically illustrates students’ beauty biases, a discussion of these results, paired with relevant readings, provides a powerful tool for the exchange of ideas about physical attractiveness biases.

Virtual Health: The Impact of Health-Related Websites on Patient-Doctor Interactions ☆ ☆Portions of this chapter were presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Abstract Purpose This study illustrates that differences across health-related websites, as well as different Internet usage patterns, have significant implications for how individuals view and interact with their health care providers. Methodology/approach We rely on a qualitative study of three health-related websites and an ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey data to explore how websites with different organizational motives frame health-related issues and how variations in Internet usage patterns affect patients’ perceptions of the patient-doctor interaction. Findings Results reveal differences across three health-related websites and show that both the number and the type of websites patients visit affect their perceptions of physicians’ responses. Specifically, visiting multiple websites decreased perceptions of how well doctors listened to or answered patients’ questions, whereas using nonprofit or government health-related websites increased evaluations of how well doctors listened to and answered questions. Research limitations/implications This study suggests that practitioners and scholars should look more closely at how patients use the Internet to understand how it affects doctor-patient interactions. Future research could expand the analysis of website framing or use methods such as in-depth interviewing to more fully understand on-the-ground processes and mechanisms. Originality/value of chapter This study highlights the importance of fleshing out nuances about what it means to be an Internet-informed patient given that varying patterns of Internet use may affect how patients perceive their physicians.

Masculinity, Competence, and Health The Influence of Weight and Race on Social Perceptions of Men

Like other visible characteristics such as skin color, gender, or age, body size is a diffuse status characteristic that impacts perceptions, interactions, and social outcomes. Studies demonstrate that individuals hold preconceived notions about what it means to be fat and document a long list of negative stereotypes associated with fat individuals, including laziness, unintelligence, and incompetence. Such perceptions have consequences for employment, including decisions about hiring, promotion, compensation, and dismissal. In this article, we examine how body size and race interact to affect individuals’ perceptions of success, competence, health, laziness, and masculinity. Based on undergraduate students’ ratings of photographs of men, our findings demonstrate significant differences between evaluations of black and white men based on body size. Thin white men are perceived to be more intelligent, more successful, and more competent than their thin black counterparts. However, these results reverse when the men are overweight: overweight black men are seen as more intelligent and more competent than overweight white men. They are also seen as more successful and hardworking and more masculine. These results suggest that the stigma of body size differently impacts black and white men; individuals judge overweight white men more negatively than overweight black men. We discuss two possible explanations for these findings: black threat neutralization and race-based attribution theory.