A high-risk body for whom? On fat, risk, recognition and reclamation in restorying reproductive care through digital storytelling

Friedman, M., Rice, C., & Lind, E. R. M. (2020). A high-risk body for whom? On fat, risk, recognition and reclamation in restorying reproductive care through digital storytelling. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 4(2), 36. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/8524

Abstract

This paper explores issues of weight stigma in fertility, reproduction, pregnancy and parenting through a fat reproductive justice lens. We engage with multimedia/digital stories co-written and co-produced with participants involved in Reproducing Stigma: Obesity and Women’s Experiences of Reproductive Care. This mixed methods research project which took place between 2015-2018 used interview and video-making methods with women-identified and trans people, as well as interviews with healthcare providers and policymakers to investigate perceptions and operations of weight and other stigma in fertility and pregnancy care. We consider the ways in which reproductive risk is typically storied in healthcare and culture, and analyse multimedia/digital stories made by participant-video-makers which story reproductive wellbeing differently. We examine three major themes—on risk, on recognition of weight and other stigma, and on reclamation of bodies—that emerged as critical to these storytellers as they navigated fatphobia in reproductive care. We argue that just as healthcare practitioners strive to practice evidence-based care we must also put into practice storied care—to believe, respect and honour fat people’s stories of their bodies and lives as fundamental to achieving equity and justice in reproductive healthcare.