Body-Based Oppression vs. Body Dissatisfaction: Unlearning Anti-Fat Bias and Redefining the Power of Psychotherapists
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Authors
Price, Annelise
Issue Date
2023-09-30
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
anti-fat bias , psychotherapy , body-based oppression , anti-fatness , body image
Alternative Title
Abstract
Though routinely unacknowledged and scarcely contested, the demonization of fatness and fat people is one of modern society's most tireless ideological crusades against a specified group of people. Anti-fat bias (and its manifestation as body-based oppression) pervades the dominant Western sociocultural landscape, filtering down from the most influential institutions into the implicit and explicit beliefs of individual citizens. One such institution that is fundamentally constructed upon the tenets of anti-fatness is the practice of psychotherapy. This capstone will trace a history of anti-fat beliefs, explore the systemic and oppressive legacies of these histories, and adopt an intersectional perspective to gain a more complex understanding of the impacts of this oppression in contemporary North American society. Ultimately, the analysis will be most interested in contributing to nuanced discussions of how body-based oppression and body dissatisfaction must be understood as distinct mechanisms, particularly for the work of psychotherapists. Actionable suggestions will be offered for psychotherapists who are committed to ethical, self-reflective, and anti-oppressive work, utilizing the power of therapy to inspire wider social change.
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
openAccess
openAccess