Reproduction and Resistance of Dominant Food-Related Subject Positions in Women’s Healthy Living Magazines and Blogs

• In Event: 336 - Section on Body and Embodiment Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Bodily Representations

Abstract

While much critical attention is given to the discourses used in traditional forms of media, there is less scrutiny of newer forms of social media. This paper is a comparative analysis of food discourses on healthy living blog posts and in health and fitness magazines for women. Using content and discourse analysis, I show how the subject positions on offer in these blogs and magazines differ, as well as how these are related to ideologies of health and femininity. Health and fitness magazine discourses are in line with dominant weight-loss principles while boundaries are drawn on healthy living blogs to differentiate from these. Although bloggers do engage with dominant food and health discourses, their messages are more in line with the principles of the anti-diet Health at Every Size (HAES) movement. Foucault’s (1979; 1985) concepts of “technologies of domination” and “aesthetics of the self” are used as tools for exploring these discourses and their relationship to how power is exerted on the female body and the potential spaces for freedom to focus on the self in a way that is free from disciplinary control. In emphasizing themes of body discontent, dietary restraint and reliance on expert advice, the subject position on offer in magazines is one that is flawed, out of control, and ignorant. In contrast, the themes of intuitive eating, lay expertise and the sensory pleasures of eating on healthy living blogs contribute to a subject position that is confident, knowledgeable and attuned to one’s bodily needs.

Author

• Alexandra Rodney, University of Toronto