Femininities-Lite: Diet Culture, Feminism and Body Policing

Abstract

In this chapter, I offer an analysis of contemporary best-selling diet books and the way they produce body-policing narratives. Specifically, the chapter moves beyond the knowledge that diet books promote problematic dietary practices in women and, instead, argues that contemporary diet culture is dominated by the use of feminist rhetoric, an emerging cultural trend that masks the otherwise harmful body-shaming messages. The New York Times best-selling Skinny Bitch series and celebrity fitness trainer Michelle Bridges' (The Biggest Loser Australia) diet books are examined. I argue that women are encouraged to comply with the otherwise oppressive dietary practices under the guise of feminist empowerment. Through the identification of post-feminist and liberal-individualist narratives, harmful notions of choice and empowerment are used to perpetuate body-surveillance messages to women.