Understanding fatness: Jamaican women’s constructions of health

ABSTRACTThe prevalence of dominant health discourses has been observed in many Western countries. These discourses tend to associate fatness with ill health, perpetuating stigma and negative attributions about bigger bodies. The authors examine women’s constructions of health in an urban Jamaican context. The findings show that women generally reproduce the dominant (Western) “obesity epidemic” discourse, but also take up a local cultural discourse, which the authors call the slim-thick healthy body discourse. The authors describe the features of this discourse and contrast it with the dominant “obesity epidemic” discourse. They conclude by considering both positive and negative implications of both discourses and suggest possibilities for challenging them.