Laura Azzarito PhD, Risto Marttinen MS, & Mara Simon MS Teachers College-Columbia University

1. “Stop photo shopping!”: a visual participatory inquiry into students’ responses to a body curriculum Laura Azzarito PhD, Risto Marttinen MS, & Mara Simon MS Teachers College-Columbia University

2. Introduction • Several researchers in Physical Education (PE) pedagogy have contested current health and fitness curricula (Evans et al., 2008; Cliff & Wright, 2010; McDonald, 2011) • Lack of critical education about the body in PE (Azzarito, 2010; Burrows et al., 2002; Evans et al., 2008; Fisette, 2011; Oliver & Lalik, 2004) • Research dealing with body issues from a sociocultural perspective in PE is underdeveloped (Cliff & Wright 2010)

3. From Constructivist PE to a Body Curriculum • Research has made significant efforts to develop theory-based curricula (Azzarito & Ennis, 2003; Dyson et al., 2004; Ennis, 2000; Singleton, 2009) • Contemporary curriculum models (Siedentop, 1994; Ennis 2000) • Student centered curricula • Current curricula do not enable young people to reflect critically around body issues • What is needed…

4. Purpose • Participatory visual research • Incorporate a Body Curriculum into a fitness unit • Conduct research on the extent to which this curriculum enhanced students’ embodied learning • Research Questions • 1) To what extent did the Body Curriculum enhance participants’ self and social critical awareness of dominant media representations of the body? • 2) How did participants respond to the integration of a Body Curriculum into a fitness class?

5. Visual Participatory Methodology • Settings and Participants • Privatehigh school in a large urban metropolitan area in the Northeast region of the United States • 60-minute class period • 10thgrade class (n = 11) (i.e., 4 white females, 6 white males, 1 black male) • The Body Curriculum had three specific aims • Promote “Body Talk” • Theory-based and organized around three thematic concepts: • the cultural body • the role of gender, sexuality, disability & race on embodied learning • the role of media as powerful pedagogical sites of young people’s identities • Create active pedagogical spaces in PE

6. Methods • Methods • Participatory Visual Ethnography • “Real World” setting to enhance teaching-learning process • Empowerment • Transformative (Johnson, 2005; Veal, 2005; McNicoll, 1999) • Data Collection & Analysis • Participant Visual Diaries & Reflections • Multiple Formal Interviews using photo elicitation • Extensive field notes • Member Check • Data Analysis • Discourse Analysis (Rose, 2007; Van Leeuween &Jewitt, 2001)

7. Results • (1) “Stop Photo-shopping!": Body Work, Gender, and Media Stereotypes • (2) “Fitting” Social Norms: “I Mean I Am Pretty Fit, Pretty Muscular, Thin…” • (3) Critical Media Pedagogy: Moving Beyond Normative Ideals of the Body?

8. “Stop Photo-shopping!": Body Work, Gender, and Media Stereotypes Samantha- • “I thought that they both depicted strong bodies. They were posing for a photo shoot, so it was like the stereotypical media image of a fit body… that have blond hair and blue eyes. . . . Like the whole point is to try to advertise something that’s not really practically attainable…I’m not sure it’s even possible…I think it does affect us. I mean, some people want to look a certain way… it just depends on the individual person, how much it means to them if they get caught up in it and try to strive towards it.”

9. Samantha

10. Samantha

11. “Stop Photo-shopping!": Body Work, Gender, and Media Stereotypes Leo- • “I think something that can be done to, lessen the effect is to stop photo-shopping the pictures because it’s very deteriorating, and nothing good can come from that besides, money for the company. Photo-shopping the pictures, is like making a picture of a body that nobody can have and then putting it up and saying, try to be like this…but I imagine in some countries with like dictators they’re like, this is the perfect man, try and be like him.”

12. Leo: “Red-Hulk”

13. Leo “Red She-Hulk”

14. “Stop Photo-shopping!": Body Work, Gender, and Media Stereotypes • Most images were the same (Wykes & Gunter 2010) • “Stop Photo-shopping” • Students viewed stereotypical media images as “unhealthy” • Race remained absent from their body talk (Frankenberg 1993)

15. “Fitting” Social Norms: “I Mean I Am Pretty Fit, Pretty Muscular, Thin…” • Participants resisted media stereotypes as a strategy to “normalize” their embodiment • Participants felt it was important to adhere to discourses of normal body size and shape to appear healthy and fit • Physical Activity was Intrinsically related to body appearance to “fit” societal norms

16. “Fitting” Social Norms: “I Mean I Am Pretty Fit, Pretty Muscular, Thin…” Matthew- • “I mean, every day pretty much I have to have physical activity when I go home and try to do homework. I usually can't concentrate unless I’ve gotten a couple of hours in. . . I mean I am pretty fit, pretty muscular, thin,…The lesson said if you think of yourself as strong now, you can just take a picture so that's what I did, even though I’m not in shape, but you know I still think that my body is pretty strong.”

17. Matthew

18. Matthew

19. Matthew

20. Matthew

21. Matthew

22. Matthew

23. Matthew

24. “Fitting” Social Norms: “I Mean I Am Pretty Fit, Pretty Muscular, Thin…” • None of the participants viewed themselves negatively • “normal” “thin” “healthy” “pretty strong” • Challenged media • Their own ideals were embodied in media stereotypes and not malleable

25. Critical Media Pedagogy: Moving Beyond Normative Ideals of the Body? • Body issues matter to young people • Students responded positively to the Body Curriculum • Critical media pedagogy provided “body talk” • Students embodiment of “normalcy” remained unchanged

26. Critical Media Pedagogy: Moving Beyond Normative Ideals of the Body? Victoria- • “I liked the discussions. I thought they were insightful… we had this one conversation that about watching Oprah and that other lady cross the line, then compared them to Megan Fox and Blake Lively.And realizing that they’re not fit and that they’ve come out openly and said it [they never exercise], whereas Oprah and the other lady [Valerie Bertinelli], they represent the fit bodies. I think a lot of people, you know, I would’ve been one of those people who thought, oh, Blake Lively? She must exercise all the time or she must be in the gym every day but, I think it was really important for me to understand that that’s not the case at all. And I think it would be nice for other people to learn that too.”

27. “Fit and Fat Phobia” Lesson Plan

28. “Fit and Fat Phobia” Lesson Plan

29. “Fit and Fat Phobia” Lesson Plan

30. “Fit and Fat Phobia” Lesson Plan

31. Alex Alex- • “Well, there wasn’t really, there wouldn’t be enough time for both the study [class discussions] and the activities. . . .It’s just hard to do both in the hour-period because we have to dress and everything. It’s just way too hard to do that.”

32. Conclusion • Limitations • Length of unit • “working out” OR “Discussion”? • Lack of Journal Feedback • Failed to destabilize students’ embodiment of the normal/abnormal body dichotomy • Recommendations • A longer unit • Constructivist curriculum model (Ennis 2000)

33. Thank you QUESTIONS?