Counter hegemonic discourse in a body-inclusive space

Abstract

ABSTRACT Body diversity efforts have prompted greater numbers of fitness providers to modify spaces and facilities to welcome a wider clientele. I investigated how individuals engage in physical activity in a body-inclusive space. As a fat person, I embedded myself in a body inclusive yoga studio and relied heavily upon my own embodied experience. Adapting Samantha Kwan’s theory of “body privilege,” I observed how culturally normative body and health ideals can be subverted. Observations necessitate interrogation of how bodily hegemony interacts with ideals of personal responsibility for health. Investigating this process helps understand how systemic ableism and fat oppression are navigated and combated in a body inclusive space.