Healthy habits are no fun

How Dutch youth negotiate discourses about food, fit, fat, and fun

Bibliographic Data

ID4945809
AuthorsNoortje Van Amsterdam (0000-0003-4758-1298, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, corresponding author), Annelies Knoppers (0000-0001-5247-9488, Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
Year2018
Volume22
Issue2
Pages128-146
Publication date2018-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4593 • E-ISSN: 1461-7196
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1363459316688517
PMID28111990
OpenAlexW2580676133
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited65

In this article, we use the notion of "biopedagogical practices" to explore how Dutch youth respond to health messages that focus on body weight. Previous studies suggest that such health messages encourage body dissatisfaction in youth. Few studies, however, focus on the local/cultural specificity of youth's responses to these biopedagogical practices. In this article, we address questions about the re-interpretation of and resistance to health messages that Dutch youth engage in and how these can be understood in their local context. The data were drawn from two previously conducted studies in which a total of 64 Dutch teenagers (aged 12-18 years) took part. We employed a variety of qualitative data collection methods and a feminist poststructuralist perspective to analyze how Dutch youth negotiate biopedagogical practices about health. The results show that our participants constructed health in terms of appearance and reproduced negative constructions regarding fat embodiment. Yet they also often circumvented "healthy" lifestyle behaviors prescribed by biopedagogies of health. They did so first by avoiding physical activities because they were afraid of displaying fat embodiment in the settings of sport and physical education where surveillance is omnipresent. Second, they disregarded advice about healthy eating by drawing on having fun as an alternative discursive resource. We argue that having fun is both part of youth culture and characteristic of the discourse about sociability ( gezelligheid) that is a central element of Dutch culture

Developmental psychology · Focus group · Negotiation · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Gender Studies · Obesity and Health Practices · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access