title: Eating in the Panopticon: Surveillance of Food and Weight before and after Bariatric Surgery.
abstract: In this article, we explore the processes by which surveillance of eating and weight is coupled with popular and medical ideas about discipline, responsibility, and moral worth for individuals identified as fat/obese. We then follow these individuals through bariatric surgery and weight loss, paying attention to what discourses and practices shift and what remain unchanged. We argue that weight loss does not temper the intensity and constancy of surveillance, because it is at the core of ideas concerning good citizenship and personal responsibility. Accompanying judgments do shift, however, as the perceptions of failure at disciplined "healthy" eating associated with fatness give way to more diverse attitudes post surgery. This analysis also highlights the fact that public and clinical perceptions of "troubled eating" often rely not on eating practices but on the types of bodies that are doing the consuming.
authors.affiliation: a Obesity Solutions, Arizona State University , Tempe , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trainer
authors.affiliation: b School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University , Tempe , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Amber
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wutich
authors.affiliation: a Obesity Solutions, Arizona State University , Tempe , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brewis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060432:Anthropology, Medical; D050110:Bariatric Surgery; D001835:Body Weight; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D015206:Southwestern United States
keywords: Bariatric surgery; eating; fat; food; obesity; surveillance