Includes bibliographical references and index.

Embodied inequality, childhood obesity, and the "problem child" -- Studying camp odyssey -- Learning embodied inequality through social comparisons -- "It's not a fat camp:" the decision to attend camp -- Change your body, change yourself: camp resocialization -- The benefits of weight loss camp...and the dark side -- "They were born lucky:" weight attribution among the campers.

"During the past three decades, obesity has become a well-known social problem as many government and medical studies constructed the increasing obesity rate as a public health crisis. The percentage of While childhood obesity trends reflect broader patterns of increasing obesity rates among adults, the rhetoric is amplified because children are involved. Some research on stigma reinforces the idea that obesity is a social problem; such studies implicitly suggest that the stigma of obesity can be eliminated through weight loss. Other scholars problematize whether obesity itself should be a concern and suggest that the solution instead lies in encouraging body acceptance and destigmatizing obesity. Viewing obesity as a social problem leads some children to implement body projects and for some adults to guide and support their participation in these projects. As the prevalence of obesity increases and children are exposed to messages about weight control at earlier ages, anti-obesity programs have become important sites of cultural meaning about body size. Using ethnographic data from a children's weight loss camp and the body history narratives of 24 campers, sociologist Laura Backstrom contends that children construct meanings related to body size through negotiated, interactive processes. Each chapter in Weighty Problems examines a specific social psychological dimension of embodied inequality, including social comparisons, stigma management, and family support dynamics. By examining why the children decided to participate in a weight loss camp in addition to their experiences at camp, the book provides an up-close account of the everyday, lived experience of children who view their bodies as problems and seek weight loss"--