Women, infants, and (fat) children: Hidden “obesity epidemic” discourse and the practical politics of health promotion at WIC

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe author examines “childhood obesity epidemic” discourse—and its surprising absence—in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. As a program tasked with improving health among low-income mothers and children through nutritional supplements and education, WIC policy formally seeks to eliminate “obesity;” in day-to-day practice, however, WIC nutritionists almost never tell clients to lose weight or call children “overweight” or “obese.” While this apparent silence arises because of a counseling strategy designed to elicit client consent to hegemonic body norms, the author argues that this strategy also produces space for alternative discourses about child health and needs to emerge.