Montreal researcher pens graphic novel about body shaming, diet culture and medical stigma

As a PhD student at ConcordiaUniversity, Rachel Thomas studies "fatnessas a concept," looking at the social,medical and historical aspects of an evolving debate about what constitutes a healthyor attractive body.

In an effort to share her research with a larger audience, she is working on a graphic novel which blends her scholarship with her own experiences.

"Iwantedto create something that people of all backgrounds would be able to understand,"she told CBC's Let's Go.

Thomas does all the illustrations for the graphic novel, combining her interdisciplinary research in medical sociology and history with her fine arts background.

"It was really a fantasticmerge of all of my disciplines together."

The graphic novel, which she hopes to have published once it's completed, is called Shrink and some excerpts have already been shared online.

The comic follows awoman's journey through losing weight as she navigates various social and medical stigmas, partly based on Thomas'own experiences.

"I was actually going through a process myself of losing weight," she said. "It was kind of happening in tandem in the sense that I was having my own experiences in this process and then also doing a ton of research."

Thomas said her work attempts to offer a critical look at how ideas about body weight are formulated and expressed, especially in a medical context.

"Shrink tackles things like the social complications of being fat, the medical gaze on the female body, diet culture and body advertisements and plastic surgery."

She said she'd experienced medical stigma firsthand, seeing a doctor about a case of strep throat and being told to lose weight.

"But that's not something that's directly tied to me having strep," said Thomas."Apparently this is a very common occurrence where a person's entire health record is boiled down to 'well, it's because you're fat.'"

Thomas said that on the flip side, sometimes body positivity activism can take on the same role of prescribing what people should do or how they should feel abouttheir bodies.

She's hoping her project can spark awareness about how external pressures impactself-image and provide context for the larger social discussion around diverse bodies.

"Everyone thinks they have a say in what your body should do and what your body should look like, but really, the only important person is you in that discussion," she said.

"And that's really what Shrink is about. It's about offering all this information really from both sides of the story in a narrative, but underscoring the fact that ultimately it's your decision to do what you want with your body."

Thomassaid despite her focus being on bodies classified as overweight or medically obese, her message is striking a chord with a larger audience than she originally anticipated.

"There are a lot of people who don't identify as fat who have a lot of body issues," she said. "It'sa reminder that everyone really struggles with their body. ... You don't have to be a particular body size to actually connect with thestoryline and the research."