Anticipatory Fatness: The Genetics of Obesity & the Individualization of Risk

Abstract: Negative perceptions of and attitudes toward people living in larger bodies – those who contemporary medical discourse would classify as “obese” – are well-documented and known to have harmful impacts on physical and psychological health. For good reason, then, working against anti-fat bias and weight stigma has been named as a goal by numerous public health bodies. A common proposal for reducing stigma centers on the importance of educating the public about the biogenetic causes of obesity in order to counteract notions of obesity as evidence of personal failure. This paper will argue that educating the public about genetic influences on obesity is unlikely to reduce the onus of personal responsibility for body size. Genetic explanations of body size presume and build upon the construction of obesity as a “disease,” which has been shown to pathologize fat bodies and construct fatness as something that demands medical intervention. But biogenetic logic adds a new layer to the discourse of obesity in its emphasis on genetic risk. Drawing on Nikolas Rose’s theorization of contemporary genetic subjectivities, I argue that emphasis on genetic contributions to “obesity” constructs bodies as bearers of risk that must be individually monitored, managed, and disciplined. Through analysis of marketing for genetic testing for obesity predisposition, this paper argues that emphasizing the genetic basis of body size refocuses attention on individual management of genetic risk and is therefore likely to contribute to, rather than minimize, weight stigma.