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<p>A “body activism” movement, with roots in fat activism and body positivity, has developed in Sweden during the last decade. As new forms of activism emerge, boundaries and approaches are being negotiated. Who is the movement for? Who can engage in it, and how? Through semi-structured interviews, we seek to understand how young Swedes who follow and engage in “body activism” on social media experience and reflect on the activism, belonging and entitlement, and their own participation. The informants discussed activism in terms of inclusiveness and political potential, where the most accessible activism is also the one ascribed with the least political potential. Entitlement is linked to collective identity, where an active participation requires belonging to the marginalised group. This article highlights the significance of boundary work in movements, where too narrowly drawn boundaries can lead to decreased participation and result in an unexploited potential for social change.</p>
</abstract>

A “body activism” movement, with roots in fat activism and body positivity, has developed in Sweden during the last decade. As new forms of activism emerge, boundaries and approaches are being negotiated. Who is the movement for? Who can engage in it, and how? Through semi-structured interviews, we seek to understand how young Swedes who follow and engage in “body activism” on social media experience and reflect on the activism, belonging and entitlement, and their own participation. The informants discussed activism in terms of inclusiveness and political potential, where the most accessible activism is also the one ascribed with the least political potential. Entitlement is linked to collective identity, where an active participation requires belonging to the marginalised group. This article highlights the significance of boundary work in movements, where too narrowly drawn boundaries can lead to decreased participation and result in an unexploited potential for social change.

“Not quite the struggle of normatives”: Belonging and entitlement in Swedish “body activism”

Department of Journalism, Media and Communication

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

A “body activism” movement, with roots in fat activism and body positivity, has developed in Sweden during the last decade. As new forms of activism emerge,...

“Not quite the struggle of normatives”: Belonging and entitlement in Swedish “body activism”

Publicado en línea: 11 feb 2022

Páginas: 38 - 55

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2022-0003

Palabras clave
online activism, fat activism, body positivity, boundary work, collective identity

© 2022 Malin Sveningsson et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Not quite the struggle of normatives”: Belonging and entitlement in Swedish “body activism”

Publicado en línea: 11 feb 2022

Páginas: 38 - 55

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2022-0003

Palabras claveonline activism, fat activism, body positivity, boundary work, collective identity

© 2022 Malin Sveningsson et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Palabras clave
online activism, fat activism, body positivity, boundary work, collective identity