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Borrowing from and refining Peggy McIntosh's (1988) ideas on white privilege, this article introduces the concept of "body privilege" and examines how a lack of body privilege materializes in everyday life. Interviews with forty-two "overweight" women and men reveal a body privilege continuum distinctly patterned by gender and race. Specifically, while a majority of participants are not able to experience a level of comfort when navigating public spaces, women generally report more instances of body nonprivilege. Moreover, a number of Hispanic and white women experience a heightened level of "body consciousness" that leads to some form of "body management." This article documents and discusses this body privilege and its racial and gendered embodiment, along with differences between body privilege and McIntosh's original concept. It also discusses how body privilege sheds new light on crucial debates regarding cultural ideals, women's bodies, and agency.
Keywords: agency / beauty / beauty ideals / body / body consciousness / body management / body privilege / ethnicity / fat / gender / overweight / race
Western cultural norms emphasize a thin and firm body ideal for women and a muscular ideal for men (Bordo 2003; Pope, Phillips and Olivardia 2000). Feminist scholars have examined these norms (often described as "Eurocentric white ideals"), their effects, and the various demands of the "fashion beauty complex" (Bartky 1990; Chapkis 1991; Collins 2000). Today, many women continue to live under a "tyranny of slenderness" (Chernin 1994), engaging in widespread body-modification practices or "body work" (Gimlin 2002). These practices range from dieting to cosmetic surgery and their negative physical, psychological, and social consequences indicate that hegemonic ideals remain a key site of women's oppression (Sprague-Zones 1997; Wolf 1991).
While scholars have studied these overt manifestations of body norms, in 1988, Peggy McIntosh (2000) changed our language and understanding of oppression by introducing the concept of "white privilege." Unlike overt forms of oppression-whether manifested in hate groups, anti-miscegenation laws, or racial slurs-white privilege is a package of unearned assets that whites cash in on a daily basis. In this article, I borrow and refine McIntosh's idea of white privilege to understand a parallel concept of "body privilege" to further the understanding of embodied oppressions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with forty-two "overweight" women and men, I...