The phenomenon of fatphobia on Brazilian digital news platforms: a critical-reflexive and problematizing analysis

Abstract

The central focus of this study concerns media discourses about fat bodies, which promote fatphobia. The objective, therefore, was to problematize the media content and discourses disseminated by Brazilian digital news platforms regarding fat bodies. Methodologically, the study is characterized by a qualitative descriptive-exploratory documentary investigation. The research locus comprised the digital news platforms UOL Vivabem—specifically its Health section—and the G1 Portal. The data was analyzed using Lawrence Bardin’s content analysis (CA). A total of 16 articles were identified. Following the theoretical-methodological assumptions of CA, three categories of thematic analysis emerged: (1) Biomedical discursivity as normativity; (2) Weight loss the watchword; (3) The media and its body pedagogy. From the findings, it is possible to see the tendency of the media to report the fat body as being sick, predestined to suffering, precisely because it breaks with the standards stipulated by hegemonic discourses. Conse-quently, the subjectivities of fat individuals are frequently delegitimized, as fatness becomes the central lens through which social representations are constructed—rather than the person and their multiple dimensions.