A Feminist Relational Discourse Analysis of mothers’ voiced accounts of the “duty to protect” children from fatness and fatphobia

Research has highlighted damaging contradictions in the responsibilisation of mothers over children's health, at once held responsible for tackling “childhood obesity” while being cautious not to encourage children become obsessive with their bodies. While research discourses blame and elucidated mothers’ experiences, less is known about how negotiate discourse voiced accounts. Utilising Feminist Relational Discourse Analysis, this study analysed interviews 12 England explore experiences a nationally mandated BMI screening programme schools shape voices experiences. In negotiating complex contradictory motherhood fatness, participants expressed “duty protect” from both fatness fatphobia. Negotiating these responsibilities left feeling guilt personal “failure” protect one or harms. Mothers did take up unproblematically; they resisted them, yet felt constrained by “expert knowledges” that had clear consequences responsibilising “harm” fatness. This analysis calls attention dominant function personally politically responsibilise harm caused state-sanctioned