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OBESITY IN THE MEDIA IN TURKEY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THOSE LIVING WITH OBESITY

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 18 - 35, 01.10.2022

Deniz Sezgin İlkin Esen Yıldırım

Abstract

One of the diseases that historically experienced stigma and exclusion is obesity. Today, as in many areas of life such as education, business life, health services and social life, discriminatory stigmatizing approaches are encountered in the media about obesity. This study aims to reveal the views and expectations of individuals with obesity in Turkey about the issues they are discriminated against in the media, the forms of stigmatization, and the representations of obesity in the media.
In the study, focus group interview method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. 6 different focus group interviews were conducted: 15-24, 25-49, 50 years and older low income-high income. A total of 42 people, 22 women and 20 men, participated in the interviews.
All of the participants have criticisms about the representation of obesity in the media. They stated that in the media contents, obesity should not be presented as a problem of willpower but as a disease, that accurate information about this disease should be included, and that beauty and aesthetic concerns should not take precedence over the causes and consequences of the disease. They believe that the media has a great role in this regard.
As a result, stereotypes and stigmatizing discourses in the media imprison individuals with obesity within certain limits. Individuals with obesity define themselves as people who are labeled and stigmatized. In short, media content reinforces discrimination. It must be underlined that the contents/presentations that are used in order to raise awareness in the media reproduce discrimination. It is clear that improvement and correction in media content must occur quickly. There is a need for programs/series/movies that are free from deceptive and misleading information, that are far from a biased perspective towards individuals with obesity, and where obesity is framed with accurate information. Due to the power of the media in influencing and directing society, recognizing and changing such content in the media will make a great contribution to the understanding of the problems experienced by people living with obesity, and therefore, contribute to obesity treatments.

Keywords

Media obesity stigma discrimination

References

  • Abigail, C. S., Kjerstin, G., and Shanna, G. (2010). Social Problem Construction and National Context: News Reporting on "Overweight" and "Obesity" in the United States and France. Social Problems, 57(4), 586. doi:10.1525/sp.2010.57.4.586
  • Adami, G. F. (2002). Harry Potter and obesity. Obes Surg, 12(2), 298. doi:10.1381/096089202762552575 Adıyaman, F. (2016). Dünya Sağlık Örgütü Avrupa Obezite ile Mücadele Bakanlar Konferansının Öncesi ve Sonrasında Obezitenin Gazetelerde Sunumu. Selçuk İletişim, 9(3), 204-223.
  • Cain, P., Ditchburn, G., and Donaghue, N. (2017). Concerns, culprits, counsel, and conflict: Athematic analysis of “obesity” and fat discourse in digital news media. Fat Studies, 6(2), 170-188. doi:10.1080/21604851.2017.1244418
  • Castleberry, A., and Nolen, A. (2018). Thematic analysis of qualitative research data: Is it as easy as it sounds? Curr Pharm Teach Learn, 10(6), 807-815. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2018.03.019
  • Chapman, A. L., Hadfield, M., and Chapman, C. J. (2015). Qualitative research in healthcare: an introduction to grounded theory using thematic analysis. J R Coll Physicians Edinb, 45(3), 201-205. doi:10.4997/jrcpe.2015.305
  • Deborah, C., and Michael, A. F. (2005). Is Obesity Stigmatizing? Body Weight, Perceived Discrimination, and Psychological Well-Being in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(3), 244. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4147670&lang=tr&site=eds-live&authtype=ip,uid
  • Demircioğlu, S., Bulanık, E., Cennet, Ö., Boybay, Z., Benderlioğlu, E., ve Aslan, D. (2013). Mart, Ağustos, Ekim 2011 ve Şubat 2012 Aylarında Tirajı En Yüksek Ulusal Beş Gazetenin Obezite Konusundaki Haberlerinin İçerik Açısından İncelenmesi. TAF Preventive Medicine Bulletin, 12(3), 271-282.
  • Dursun, Ç., Sezgin, D., Kubilay, Ç. Kaya, M. (2017). Medyada Obezite Haberlerinin Sunumu ve Alınması. TC. Sağlık Bakanlığı Sağlığın Geliştirilmesi Genel Müdürlüğü. E-Kitaplar.
  • Gale, N. K., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S., and Redwood, S. (2013). Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC Med Res Methodol, 13, 117. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-13-117
  • Gearhart, S., Craig, C., and Steed, C. (2012). Network News Coverage of Obesity in Two Time Periods: An Analysis of Issues, Sources, and Frames. Health Communication, 27(7), 653-662. doi:10.1080/10410236.2011.629406
  • Guido, Z., Stephan, Z., Alexander, O., Isabelle, M., Tino, G. K. M., and Norbert, S. (2017). Managing Obesity Prevention Using Digital Media: A Double-Sided Approach. pp. 97. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  • Hennink, M., Bailey, A., and Hutter, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods (1st ed. ed.): SAGE Publications.
  • Hilton, S., Patterson, C., and Teyhan, A. (2012). Escalating coverage of obesity in UK newspapers: the evolution and framing of the “obesity epidemic” from 1996 to 2010. Obesity, 20. doi:10.1038/oby.2012.27
  • Holmberg, C., Berg, C., Lissner, L., Dahlgren, J., and Chaplin, J. E. (2019). Health literacy in a complex digital media landscape: Pediatric obesity patients’ experiences with online weight, food, and health information. Health Informatics Journal, 25(4), 1343-1357. doi:10.1177/1460458218759699
  • Houghton, C., Murphy, K., Shaw, D., and Casey, D. (2015). Qualitative case study data analysis: an example from practice. Nurse Res, 22(5), 8-12. doi:10.7748/nr.22.5.8.e1307
  • Khajeheian, D., Colabi, A. M., Nordiana Ahmad, K. S., Che Wan, J. B. W. M. R., and Hashem Salarzadeh, J. (2018). Effect of social media on child obesity: application of structural equation modeling with the Taguchi method. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(7), 1343-1343.
  • Kim, S.-H., and Willis, L. A. (2007). Talking about obesity: news framing of who is responsible for causing and fixing the problem. Journal of Health Communication, 12(4),359-376. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mdc&AN=17558788&lang=tr&site=eds-live&authtype=ip,uid
  • Kuebler, M., Yom-Tov, E., Pelleg, D., Puhl, R. M., and Muennig, P. (2013). When overweight is the normal weight: an examination of obesity using a social media internet database. PLoS One, 8(9), e73479. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073479
  • Lawrence, R. G. (2004). Framing obesity - The evolution of news discourse on a public health issue. Vol. 9, pp. 56-75.
  • Linda, B. (2013). Fat is one of three filmfest movies exploring obesity. In: Guelph Mercury.
  • Litwack, M. (2015). Making Television Live: Mediating Biopolitics in Obesity Programming. Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 30(88 [1]), 41-69. doi:10.1215/02705346-2885442
  • Lowry, R., Wechsler, H., Galuska, D. A., Fulton, J. E., and Kann, L. (2002). Television Viewing and its Associations with Overweight, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Insufficient Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables Among US High School Students: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. Journal of School Health, 72(10), 413. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2002.tb03551.x
  • Otani, T. (2017). What Is Qualitative Research?. Yakugaku Zasshi, 137(6), 653-658. doi:10.1248/yakushi.16-00224-1
  • Puhl, R. M., Luedicke, J., & Heuer, C. A. (2013). The stigmatizing effect of visual media portrayals of obese persons on public attitudes: does race or gender matter? J Health Commun, 18(7), 805-826. doi:10.1080/10810730.2012.757393
  • Rössner, S. (2014). Fat and thin actors, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle 1887-1933. Obes Rev, 15(6), 538-539. doi:10.1111/obr.12167
  • Rössner, S. (2018). Eating on the movie screen. Obes Rev, 19(11), 1619. doi:10.1111/obr.12711
  • Sandelowski, M. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Res Nurs Health, 23(4), 334-340. doi:10.1002/1098-240x(200008)23:4<334::aid-nur9>3.0.co;2-g
  • Sezgin, D. (2011). Tıbbileştirilen Yaşam Bireyselleştirilen Sağlık. İstanbul: Ayrıntı.
  • Sezgin, D., Yıldırım, İ. E., ve Sert Karaaslan, Y. (2021). Rolüm Ağır (2 ed.). İstanbul: Kapital Medya.
  • So, J., Prestin, A., Lee, L., Wang, Y., Yen, J., and Chou, W.-Y. S. (2016). What Do People Like to "Share" About Obesity? A Content Analysis of Frequent Retweets About Obesity on Twitter. Health Communication, 31(2), 193-206. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.940675
  • Stanford, F. C., Tauqeer, Z., and Kyle, T. K. (2018). Media and Its Influence on Obesity. Curr Obes Rep, 7(2), 186-192. doi:10.1007/s13679-018-0304-0
  • Throop, E. M., Skinner, A. C., Perrin, A. J., Steiner, M. J., Odulana, A., and Perrin, E. M. (2014). Pass the popcorn: "obesogenic" behaviors and stigma in children's movies. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 22(7), 1694-1700. doi:10.1002/oby.20652
  • Yurdıgül, Y., ve Yüksel, H., (2012). Gazeteciliğin Dönüşümü: Yeni Medyaya Entegrasyon Sürecinde Değişen Habercilik Pratikleri: Akdeniz Üniversitesi.
  • Yüksel, E., Adıyaman, F., Keçeli, D., Doruk, Ö., Yavuz, Ö., ve Kasdemir, B. (2014). Obezite Konusu Basında Nasıl Çerçevelenmektedir? Selçuk İletişim, 8(2), 149-176.
  • Zaharia Rodica, M., and Grundey, D. (2008). Qualitative Research Methods: A Comparison Between Focus-Group And In-Depth Interview. Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science, 4(1), 1279-1283.

OBEZİTELİ BİREYLERİN GÖZÜNDEN TÜRKİYE’DE MEDYADA OBEZİTE

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 18 - 35, 01.10.2022

Deniz Sezgin İlkin Esen Yıldırım

Abstract

Tarihsel olarak damgalanmanın ve dışlanmanın yaşandığı hastalıklardan biri obezitedir. Günümüzde eğitim, iş hayatı, sağlık hizmetleri, sosyal hayat gibi yaşamın pek çok alanında olduğu gibi medyada da obezite konusunda ayrımcı damgalayıcı yaklaşımlarla karşılaşılmaktadır. Bu çalışma, Türkiye'de obeziteli bireylerin medyada ayrımcılığa uğradıkları konuları, damgalanma biçimlerini ve medyada obezite temsilleri hakkında görüşlerini, beklentilerini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır.
Çalışmada niteliksel araştırma yöntemlerinden odak grup görüşmesi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. 15-24, 25-49, 50 yaş ve üzeri düşük gelir-yüksek gelir olmak üzere 6 farklı odak grup görüşmesi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Görüşmelere 22 kadın, 20 erkek olmak üzere toplamda 42 kişi katılmıştır.
Katılımcıların tamamının medyada obezitenin temsili konusunda eleştirileri bulunmaktadır. Medya içeriklerinde obezitenin bir irade sorunu olarak değil hastalık olarak sunulması, hastalık ile ilgili doğru bilgilere yer verilmesi, güzellik, estetik kaygılarının hastalığın nedenlerinin ve sonuçlarının önüne geçmemesi gerektiğini ifade etmişlerdir. Bu konuda medyaya büyük rol düştüğü görüşündedirler.
Sonuç olarak medyada yer bulan kalıp yargılar ve damgalayıcı söylemler obeziteli bireyleri belirli sınırlar içine hapsetmektedir. Obeziteli bireyler kendilerini etiketlenen, damgalanan kişiler olarak tanımlamaktadır. Kısacası medya içerikleri ayrımcılığı pekiştirmektedir. Medyada farkındalık yaratmak amacıyla sunulan içeriklerin/sunumların ayrımcılığı yeniden ürettiğinin altı çizilmedir. Medya içeriklerindeki iyileştirmenin ve ıslahın hızla gerçekleşmesi gerektiği açıktır. Aldatıcı, yanıltıcı bilgilerden arındırılmış, obeziteli bireylere yönelik yanlı bir bakış açısından uzak, obezitenin doğru bilgilerle çerçevelendirildiği programlara/dizilere/filmlere ihtiyaç vardır. Medyanın toplumu etkileme ve yönlendirme gücü nedeniyle medyada bu tür içeriklerin farkına varılması ve değiştirilmeye başlanması obeziteli kişilerin yaşadıkları sıkıntıların anlaşılmasına ve obezite tedavilerine büyük katkı sağlayacaktır.

Keywords

Medya obezite damgalama ayrımcılık

References

  • Abigail, C. S., Kjerstin, G., and Shanna, G. (2010). Social Problem Construction and National Context: News Reporting on "Overweight" and "Obesity" in the United States and France. Social Problems, 57(4), 586. doi:10.1525/sp.2010.57.4.586
  • Adami, G. F. (2002). Harry Potter and obesity. Obes Surg, 12(2), 298. doi:10.1381/096089202762552575 Adıyaman, F. (2016). Dünya Sağlık Örgütü Avrupa Obezite ile Mücadele Bakanlar Konferansının Öncesi ve Sonrasında Obezitenin Gazetelerde Sunumu. Selçuk İletişim, 9(3), 204-223.
  • Cain, P., Ditchburn, G., and Donaghue, N. (2017). Concerns, culprits, counsel, and conflict: Athematic analysis of “obesity” and fat discourse in digital news media. Fat Studies, 6(2), 170-188. doi:10.1080/21604851.2017.1244418
  • Castleberry, A., and Nolen, A. (2018). Thematic analysis of qualitative research data: Is it as easy as it sounds? Curr Pharm Teach Learn, 10(6), 807-815. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2018.03.019
  • Chapman, A. L., Hadfield, M., and Chapman, C. J. (2015). Qualitative research in healthcare: an introduction to grounded theory using thematic analysis. J R Coll Physicians Edinb, 45(3), 201-205. doi:10.4997/jrcpe.2015.305
  • Deborah, C., and Michael, A. F. (2005). Is Obesity Stigmatizing? Body Weight, Perceived Discrimination, and Psychological Well-Being in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(3), 244. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4147670&lang=tr&site=eds-live&authtype=ip,uid
  • Demircioğlu, S., Bulanık, E., Cennet, Ö., Boybay, Z., Benderlioğlu, E., ve Aslan, D. (2013). Mart, Ağustos, Ekim 2011 ve Şubat 2012 Aylarında Tirajı En Yüksek Ulusal Beş Gazetenin Obezite Konusundaki Haberlerinin İçerik Açısından İncelenmesi. TAF Preventive Medicine Bulletin, 12(3), 271-282.
  • Dursun, Ç., Sezgin, D., Kubilay, Ç. Kaya, M. (2017). Medyada Obezite Haberlerinin Sunumu ve Alınması. TC. Sağlık Bakanlığı Sağlığın Geliştirilmesi Genel Müdürlüğü. E-Kitaplar.
  • Gale, N. K., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S., and Redwood, S. (2013). Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC Med Res Methodol, 13, 117. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-13-117
  • Gearhart, S., Craig, C., and Steed, C. (2012). Network News Coverage of Obesity in Two Time Periods: An Analysis of Issues, Sources, and Frames. Health Communication, 27(7), 653-662. doi:10.1080/10410236.2011.629406
  • Guido, Z., Stephan, Z., Alexander, O., Isabelle, M., Tino, G. K. M., and Norbert, S. (2017). Managing Obesity Prevention Using Digital Media: A Double-Sided Approach. pp. 97. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  • Hennink, M., Bailey, A., and Hutter, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods (1st ed. ed.): SAGE Publications.
  • Hilton, S., Patterson, C., and Teyhan, A. (2012). Escalating coverage of obesity in UK newspapers: the evolution and framing of the “obesity epidemic” from 1996 to 2010. Obesity, 20. doi:10.1038/oby.2012.27
  • Holmberg, C., Berg, C., Lissner, L., Dahlgren, J., and Chaplin, J. E. (2019). Health literacy in a complex digital media landscape: Pediatric obesity patients’ experiences with online weight, food, and health information. Health Informatics Journal, 25(4), 1343-1357. doi:10.1177/1460458218759699
  • Houghton, C., Murphy, K., Shaw, D., and Casey, D. (2015). Qualitative case study data analysis: an example from practice. Nurse Res, 22(5), 8-12. doi:10.7748/nr.22.5.8.e1307
  • Khajeheian, D., Colabi, A. M., Nordiana Ahmad, K. S., Che Wan, J. B. W. M. R., and Hashem Salarzadeh, J. (2018). Effect of social media on child obesity: application of structural equation modeling with the Taguchi method. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(7), 1343-1343.
  • Kim, S.-H., and Willis, L. A. (2007). Talking about obesity: news framing of who is responsible for causing and fixing the problem. Journal of Health Communication, 12(4),359-376. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mdc&AN=17558788&lang=tr&site=eds-live&authtype=ip,uid
  • Kuebler, M., Yom-Tov, E., Pelleg, D., Puhl, R. M., and Muennig, P. (2013). When overweight is the normal weight: an examination of obesity using a social media internet database. PLoS One, 8(9), e73479. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073479
  • Lawrence, R. G. (2004). Framing obesity - The evolution of news discourse on a public health issue. Vol. 9, pp. 56-75.
  • Linda, B. (2013). Fat is one of three filmfest movies exploring obesity. In: Guelph Mercury.
  • Litwack, M. (2015). Making Television Live: Mediating Biopolitics in Obesity Programming. Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 30(88 [1]), 41-69. doi:10.1215/02705346-2885442
  • Lowry, R., Wechsler, H., Galuska, D. A., Fulton, J. E., and Kann, L. (2002). Television Viewing and its Associations with Overweight, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Insufficient Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables Among US High School Students: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. Journal of School Health, 72(10), 413. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2002.tb03551.x
  • Otani, T. (2017). What Is Qualitative Research?. Yakugaku Zasshi, 137(6), 653-658. doi:10.1248/yakushi.16-00224-1
  • Puhl, R. M., Luedicke, J., & Heuer, C. A. (2013). The stigmatizing effect of visual media portrayals of obese persons on public attitudes: does race or gender matter? J Health Commun, 18(7), 805-826. doi:10.1080/10810730.2012.757393
  • Rössner, S. (2014). Fat and thin actors, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle 1887-1933. Obes Rev, 15(6), 538-539. doi:10.1111/obr.12167
  • Rössner, S. (2018). Eating on the movie screen. Obes Rev, 19(11), 1619. doi:10.1111/obr.12711
  • Sandelowski, M. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Res Nurs Health, 23(4), 334-340. doi:10.1002/1098-240x(200008)23:4<334::aid-nur9>3.0.co;2-g
  • Sezgin, D. (2011). Tıbbileştirilen Yaşam Bireyselleştirilen Sağlık. İstanbul: Ayrıntı.
  • Sezgin, D., Yıldırım, İ. E., ve Sert Karaaslan, Y. (2021). Rolüm Ağır (2 ed.). İstanbul: Kapital Medya.
  • So, J., Prestin, A., Lee, L., Wang, Y., Yen, J., and Chou, W.-Y. S. (2016). What Do People Like to "Share" About Obesity? A Content Analysis of Frequent Retweets About Obesity on Twitter. Health Communication, 31(2), 193-206. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.940675
  • Stanford, F. C., Tauqeer, Z., and Kyle, T. K. (2018). Media and Its Influence on Obesity. Curr Obes Rep, 7(2), 186-192. doi:10.1007/s13679-018-0304-0
  • Throop, E. M., Skinner, A. C., Perrin, A. J., Steiner, M. J., Odulana, A., and Perrin, E. M. (2014). Pass the popcorn: "obesogenic" behaviors and stigma in children's movies. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 22(7), 1694-1700. doi:10.1002/oby.20652
  • Yurdıgül, Y., ve Yüksel, H., (2012). Gazeteciliğin Dönüşümü: Yeni Medyaya Entegrasyon Sürecinde Değişen Habercilik Pratikleri: Akdeniz Üniversitesi.
  • Yüksel, E., Adıyaman, F., Keçeli, D., Doruk, Ö., Yavuz, Ö., ve Kasdemir, B. (2014). Obezite Konusu Basında Nasıl Çerçevelenmektedir? Selçuk İletişim, 8(2), 149-176.
  • Zaharia Rodica, M., and Grundey, D. (2008). Qualitative Research Methods: A Comparison Between Focus-Group And In-Depth Interview. Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science, 4(1), 1279-1283.
There are 35 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Uluslararası Toplumsal Bilimler Dergisi Cilt 6 Sayı 2
Authors

Deniz Sezgin 0000-0002-6136-5244

İlkin Esen Yıldırım 0000-0001-5954-3024

Publication Date October 1, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022 Volume: 6 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Sezgin, D., & Yıldırım, İ. E. (2022). OBEZİTELİ BİREYLERİN GÖZÜNDEN TÜRKİYE’DE MEDYADA OBEZİTE. Uluslararası Toplumsal Bilimler Dergisi, 6(2), 18-35.
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