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OST-Øst-Europa-programmene

Aesthetic ideals and big bodies: a comparative study of Russia and Norway

Tildelt: kr 0,25 mill.

Getting dressed is an everyday aesthetic practice that involves most people regardless of them liking it or not. Dressing consists of finding suitable clothes in relation to body shape and appearance, and according to type of society and social contexts. How easy or difficult this is depends on both the norms (are they ambiguous or clear, expressed or tacit) and on how stigmatized the body is. In western countries today, including Norway, we experience an increased stigma of oversized bodies. Similar proc esses are happening in Russia. Studies have indicated that large women and men find it particularly difficult to find clothes that fit their style and body shape. Our focus is on how a society's aesthetic body ideals relate to big bodies for men and women . More precisely we want to focus and discuss how big bodies are conceptualized according to stigma, health and fashion in Norway and Russia. By big bodies we mean bodies that are not medical cases, but bodies that are bigger than average and felt that wa y by those having the bodies. Our overarching theoretical perspectives are gender and fashion theories. We want to write, present and discuss papers that deal with gender, fashion, health and big bodies. Our point of departure for this application is th e ongoing NFR funded project Beauty comes from within: How looking good is a challenge in health promotion. In the light of this, we seek funding for a two-day seminar in Moscow in September 2009. The funding will pay for nine Norwegian researchers, one Swedish researcher (key note speaker) and four Russian researchers taking part in the seminar.

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OST-Øst-Europa-programmene

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