In its context, deviance can be defined as a way in which individuals go against the established norms and cultures within a society. In most cases, the society has norms that individuals feel are the most appropriate such as in dressing, and greeting people among others (John & DeLisi, 2016). In other words, they are deemed as codified laws, or folkways. In the documentary “Fat and Proud,” the fat women are simply being deviant, and they are tired of the society norms that perceive fat people as unhealthy. In other words, the women are unhealthy and proud about it. They are telling the society to accept them as they are, and they have no regrets about their body conditions. The acts demonstrated in the documentary are appropriate in analyzing the seven stages of the deviant career and the strategies for managing deviant identity.
The women in the documentary are trying to achieve identity, besides fighting norms and folkways held in the society (Atkinson & Young, 2008). The women are simply trying to catch the attention of the society and make people think differently about plus size women. They are trying hard to make the society look at them from another perspective. In the documentary, they have made confessions that fat women are not deemed as sexy. For that reason, they have resolved to cleanse the tarnished reputation, by being deviant.
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The women in the documentary are different to other groups of women who suffer from other eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. Most people suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia suffer from fear of gaining weight and as such, they end up having weird body shapes (Atkinson & Young, 2008). They restrict taking food by doing exercises, fasting and dieting. For individuals suffering from bulimia, they acquire weird behaviors such as binge eating, which end up draining them emotionally and physically. In the documentary “Fat and Proud,” the fat women are a complete opposite. They are not starving themselves to lose weight; instead, they are passing a message to the world that their unhealthy habits are appropriate. In other words, they are fat and the society should accept it (LIA Belfast, 2012).
Comparing the Documentary to Other Entertainment/Health Programming
The documentary is different from health programs on mass media on obesity. For instance, MTV’s “I Used to be Fat’’ features Coach Yari motivating an overweight young man to lose weight, and he ends up shrugging off fifty-eight pounds. The coach motivates the trainee by first making him to accept he is running his life by unhealthy eating. In contrast, the documentary “Fat and Proud,” features over-weight women who are not concerned about losing weight, but rather, coming together to overeat, and engage in unhealthy habits (LIA Belfast, 2012).
Women in “Fat and Proud” Work Their Way through “The Seven Stages of a Deviant Career”
The documentary depicts women who have worked their way through the seven stages of deviant career. In the first stage, the women were labeled and their life changed in numerous ways (Atkinson & Young, 2008). The society started looking at them as undesirable due to their overweight, and labeled them as unhealthy and obese. Some have confessed that, they were always looking for ways of associating themselves with others without being condemned. In the second stage, the women in the documentary underwent some form of labeling, and they internalized the way the society describes them as overweight and fat (LIA Belfast, 2012). In return, they went ahead to accept the condition and established a way of life around it. In the third stage, which is also referred to as Spoiled Identity, the women in the documentary started forming groups to meet in the public and announce their status without a care in the world. In the fourth stage, exclusion, the society is now accepting the deviant group. Evidently, the documentary has featured healthy people admitting that they like the fat women as they are. In the fifth stage, the fat women in the documentary have been accepted in other group, which does not come easy. In stage six, not everyone is the society is treating them in the same manner, as sections of people view them negatively. However, the seventh stage depicts internalization, in which case, the women have fully accepted the deviant label and they think of themselves differently.
Strategies for Managing “Fatness” as a “Master Status”
The Master Status strategy by Everett Hughes is simply an approach to identify one’s trait in order to establish an individual identity. In the case of fat women in the documentary, they have resolved to identify themselves with the rest of fat women in the neighborhood, as a way of dominating the negative labeling. The women are very successful in using this strategy, as by coming together, they have formed a formidable force that has made the society to look at them differently. The society has started to perceive unhealthy habits from a totally different perspective (Goffman, 2009).
References
Atkinson, M. & Young, K. (2008). Deviance and Social Control in Sport. London: Human Kinetics
Goffman, E. (2009). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
John, R. & DeLisi, H. (2016). Delinquency in Society. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
LIA Belfast (2012). Fat and Proud Pt 1-5 YouTube
MTV I used to be Fat Paul Episode, 2014
