Fatness, fitness and the moral universe of sport and physical activity

We use what we call collaborative autoethnography in this article to tell the story of “Lindsey,” a person for whom sport and physical activity have been both friend and enemy throughout her life. Our intention is to place stories about disordered eating and over-exercising alongside modern panics about obesity and to wonder how children are likely to process the different things they are told about body weight, sport, and physical activity. We do this not to pathologize Lindsey’s behavior but rather to pathologize the moral universe that makes the moral superiority of the fit, athletic body possible.