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Strong And Large Black Women?

Exploring Relationships between Deviant Womanhood and Weight

DePauw University

This article questions the societal and cultural image of Black women as strong and suggests that this seemingly affirming portrayal is derived from a discourse of enslaved women’s deviance. In highlighting connections between perceived strength and physical size among Black women, the analysis extends current feminist theory by considering the ways in which the weight many strong African American women carry is reflective of the deviant and devalued womanhood that they are expected to embody both within and outside their culture.

Key Words: Black women • body image • feminist theory • Black feminist theory • eating disorders

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