Fat women: The role of the mother–daughter relationship revisited

SynopsisContemporary scholarship emphasizes the central role of mother–daughter relationships in the development of women's bodily identities. However, most works analyze ‘normal weight’ women and exclude ‘overweight’ women. In addition, most works explore the susceptibility of mothers and daughters to hegemonic messages regarding the feminine body, and do not pay enough attention to the possibility of resistance in these relationships. At the same time, fat studies scholarship on the acquisition of ‘fat identity’ does not sufficiently analyze the role of mother–daughter relationships in the formation of these specific bodily identities. Interviews with 22 Jewish-Israeli self-identified fat women are analyzed to demonstrate that the mother–daughter relationship is a prominent subjective factor in the construction of fat identity laden with negative meanings. The paper also shows that mother–daughter relationships can potentially shape processes of negotiation regarding the fat female body, and can even play a role in the construction of alternative, more positive fat identities.