Fat on Campus: Fat College Students and Hyper(in)visible Stigma. Issue 2 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stevens, Corey
• Is Part Of: Sociological focus. Volume 51:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 130
• Page End: 149
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Social sciences -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Periodicals; 301.05
• DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2017.1368839
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-0237

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article examines fat college students' experiences of stigma. Fourteen college students and recent graduates describe their experiences of discrimination and stigma during their college careers. From these interviews, themes of hyper(in)visibility, anticipated stigma, spaces where stigma is more salient, and stigma management emerged. Fat students experience hyper(in)visibility: They are simultaneously hypervisible and invisible, on campus. This experience is impacted by gender and age. This hyper(in)visibility—combined with past experienced stigma—created a sense of anticipated stigma in students. Experiences of hyper(in)visiblity and anticipated stigma are made more salient by the size and shape of various campus spaces: classrooms, dining halls, student recreation centers, and recreational drinking spaces. Fat students often managed this stigma by avoiding these spaces and withdrawing from campus life. Students also embraced other stigma-resistance strategies and found peer groups and campuses spaces to facilitate this resistance.