Abstract
Feminist Theology and Contemporary Dieting Culture is a work of feminist, practical, body theology. Hannah Bacon mines traditional Christian theology with rigour and works with contemporary critical theories to construct new, bold theologies relating to weight loss, food and the human body.
In this remarkable book, Bacon explores how fat and weight loss are inherently theological issues. The link is not too difficult to draw either, I mean, how many times have we prayed before we step on the scales? The Eucharist is a celebration of food and bodies, but at some point in the Christian tradition, as Bacon humorously notes, it has translated into ‘miniscule pieces of bread and a sip of wine’ (p. 288).
The connection between feminism and contemporary dieting culture has remained relatively unexplored in Christian theology, and therefore the concept and work are highly original. The book is timely given current attitudes and research surrounding fat bodies, and news reports about as obesity epidemic that feature headless fat bodies – these are bodies without a face and a voice, as Charlotte Cooper notes.
Before I examine some of the theological tropes that emerged during my reading, I want to first commend Bacon for her theological style. In the introduction to the book, Bacon draws on the principle of feminist theology as praxis: ‘feminist theology must seek to act and do’ (p. 5), but the bar she sets is high, as she later comments ‘the need for theology to speak constructively is a matter of seeking justice and equality before God’ (p. 5). These aims make theology matter, and for me, they energise the discipline.
The first part of the book takes the ethnography study as its focus, looking at how a secular weight loss organisation recycles theological ideas, including the ideas of ‘syn’ and salvation. From the presentation of Eve at the Fall in Genesis, to Paul, Augustine, Aquinas and a whole host of theological rocks, there does not seem to be any ground left unturned. Indeed, Bacon draws out some gems. The personal narratives of her participants, and her own experiences at times, aligns her theological thinking with the practical. The themes are sometimes tough too, as we move between body theology to a theology of the mind that draws on emotions: gluttony and sin as deadly sins, the shame and stigma of fat bodies, and the continuous social and cultural policing of size.
The second half of the book, from chapter 4 onwards, Bacon’s theology moves in new directions. Borrowing from Monique Wittig’s idea of ‘compulsory heterosexuality’, she explores the notion of ‘compulsory thinness’ (p. 204). Fat is linked to disease and death, as Bacon notes, ‘fat is unambiguously a confession of sin – sloth or greed’ (p. 211). Returning to her own aims of feminist theology as acting and doing, Bacon exposes the cumulative impact of Christian theology on the body and especially its negative effects on women, as she states, ‘sizeism . . . depicting a far-reaching terror of fat that strikes fear, guilt and self-hatred into the lives of a multiplicity of people, especially women’ (p. 205). New directions are offered, including the sin of sizeism (p. 206) and the victimisation of food as sin (p. 211) and the idea that weight loss is always in anxious production and against Sabbath sensibilities.
The real, living experiences of women in a weight loss group, including the author, ensure that the emerging, constructive theologies are grounded in the real living experiences of the women (and one male participant) in some way, rather than being speculative. In fact, I began to miss the voices from the group in chapter five, where they were absent.
Rare for academic texts, there are moments of wit, as I’ve already hinted at, including Bacon’s own expression of horror at the weight loss advice to enjoy a chippy tea by taking the batter off the fish, or crusty bread by scooping out the dough. At one point in the book, I felt completely seen, as Bacon poses an existential question I’ve grappled with for many years, ‘weight loss or wine, which do I want more?’ (p. 76)! There really is no contest.
To sum up my reflections on the book, Feminist Theology and Contemporary Dieting Culture offers space for the voices of fat bodies, which are not attended to in canonical theological discourse, and incorporates them into a work of feminist, practical theology that troubles normative expectations of fat and size. It represents the reality, intimacy and potency of grounding theology in real-life experiences. This book undoubtedly enriches the small, but emerging area of theology and weight loss, with its particular focus on questions of equality and justice.