The body – especially the closely scrutinized female body – marks the individual as more or
less (in)appropriate for the society it exists in. Fatness is commonly seen as being excluded
from and incompatible with norms of femininity (Taylor 2021) and it is thus especially
stigmatizing for women. Similarly, especially for women, it can be stigmatizing to be single,
and single women may be seen as not having reached ‘proper’ adulthood (Taylor 2021). Both
being fat and being single are understood as temporary, undesirable states that need to be
overcome in order to achieve a happy, fulfilling life; life starts when one is thin and when one
has become coupled. Both fatness and singlehood are thus highly stigmatizing, being
perceived as a personal shortcoming, inability, or sometimes unwillingness to conform to
society’s standards of an ‘appropriate’ adult life.
The solution for these undesirable states is offered in makeover tv shows that promote
individual improvement. They no longer focus on the alteration of the body alone but have
increasingly shifted their focus towards the makeover of one’s life through the makeover of
one’s body. Makeover shows that focus on rectifying the undesirable state of singlehood have
become increasingly popular, positioning the single woman as a figure in need of
intervention. Their premise is simple, and their structure is highly formulaic: the participant
goes from fat and sad to thin and happy – happiness is achieved by being coupled, being able
to stay in the relationship one is in, or through the prospect of new love.
While they are especially popular in the United States, there is also a growing number of
these shows in Finland, the most recent being Revenge Body with Martina Aitolehti, which is
set to air in 2022. This show is based on the original Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian,
in which Khloé helps individuals overcome their (newly) single status and win back their ex
by changing their body into a more acceptable, socioculturally desirable version – by losing
weight.
The makeover show Fat Chance, aired in the US in 2016, constructs weight loss as the
precondition for entering the arena of love; participants lose weight in order to confess their
feelings to a crush. Fat Chance promotes the idea of weight loss as essential to desire and
being desired – a fat body, as is repeatedly expressed by the participants, is not worthy of
love, and thus marks the individual as an inappropriate, not-good-enough partner. In this
particular show, the diet itself is constructed as a rite of passage (VanGennep 1960) on the
way to love. The participants go from the undesirable state of being fat and being single to
the desirable, appropriate state of being thin and coupled, hereby ‘moving up the ladder’ and
achieving the status of a well-adjusted adult. Overcoming the liminal states of fatness
(LeBesco 2004, Harjunen 2009) and singlehood (Lahad 2012) is constructed as the key to an
acceptable, fulfilled, happy life. In Fat Chance, thus, the diet not only acts as a rite of passage
from fat to thin, but on a higher level from unfit for a relationship to fit for a relationship, so
it also acts as a covert rite of passage from single to un-single. The passage is thus not only
from one bodily state to another, but at the same time between the stages of being single and
being coupled, being unloved and loved, and in the end the precondition to achieving one’s
best self and life.
The Finnish makeover show Rakas, Sinusta on Tullut Pullukka features individuals on a more
advanced level of coupling, so to speak, since they have already successfully acquired a
relationship. It serves as a warning of ‘don’t let yourself go and gain weight’ or else ‘you’ll
lose the relationship, your soulmate, your source of happiness in life’, and promotes the idea
that one is never safe from the dangers of single life but should always be vigilant of changes
to the body that might impact one’s relationship status. This highlights the importance of the
couple relationship, which still has a “robust allure” in Finland (Kolehmainen 2019).
In the US, the show Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian is directed at participants who
have already lost their ‘one and only’, and now attempt to gain them back through the
alteration of their bodies into a more desirable form. This show works through the process of
normalization (Foucault 1995), which not only categorises bodies as beautiful – good – and
ugly – bad –, but as an instrument of power that serves to shape bodies and individuals into a
more appropriate, acceptable version (Ritter forthcoming). The idea of the couple as one of
the “most potent objects of normativity” (Roseneil et al. 2020) is perpetuated. To be ‘normal’
one must be in a couple; in order to achieve this, one must have a ‘normal’ (=not fat) body.
Makeover shows that focus on the makeover of fat, single women thus reinforce the idea that
to be fulfilled in life, one must be involved in a relationship (see McClanahan 2007). The
shows reproduce notions of the importance of making over the body to achieve this goal,
since here, weight loss qualifies the participants for the role of a partner. Furthermore, being
in a couple is seen as marking the successful transition into adulthood and maturity, and is
presented as desirable for everybody, which shows a highly normative understanding of
beauty and body standards as well as romantic relationships.
Susanne Ritter is a doctoral student in Gender Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University. She has a background in Media Studies. Her research deals with makeover tv, relationships and body politics, as well as structures of power surrounding gender and the fat (female) body.
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