Women Can't Win: Gender Irony and the E-Politics of The Biggest Loser

This essay employs irony as a tool to make clearer the workings of one form of the e-politics of food, namely, the structural food oppression linked to the weight and shape of the female body. Arguing that the e-politics of the weight and shape of the female body is one of the most important incarnations of the e-politics of food and one of the most vigorously contested, this study examines the construction of the assumptions, the ideals, and the rules with which women must contend. The case of Rachel Frederickson, the oft-attacked winner of The Biggest Loser 2014, serves as the focus of the study. The critical rhetorical analysis finds some support for the Women Can't Win thesis. Finally, the authors offers some constructive suggestions for helping to escape the Catch-22 of fat-shaming/skinny shaming.