Being 'fat' in today's world: A socio-cultural investigation of overweight and obesity.

This study will conduct a careful and systematic examination of the socio-cultural dimension of obesity and explicitly consider the needs of overweight people themselves. The project is innovative both nationally and internationally in that it qualitatively explores the lived realities of those struggling with their weight, and will conduct an in-depth media analysis to explore the wider impact of public health prevention and health promotion messages about obesity. The project is significant in that it will use narratives to provide public health and media strategies which resonate with the lived reality of obese and overweight people.