Valued tactics: Men's reframing of participation in football-based weight management programmes as a working utopia of collective action

Abstract

For men living with obesity who want to lose weight, the femininity associated with practicing weight loss strategies often acts as a constraint when trying to integrate themselves within the social environment of conventional weight management programmes (WMPs). Although, increasingly popular sport focused men-only WMPs seem to have a favourable impact on sustaining men's engagement. Drawing on interviews with 14 men currently involved in football-based WMPs, we argue that a spirit of collective action spontaneously developed within this innovative weight management space of doing physical activity together, sparked by shared grievances of feeling emasculated when previously attending female-dominated commercial WMPs. This collective spirit surpassed weight loss as men's priority for attending the programme. To do justice to the bespoke social support constructed and relished by the men, we utilise the collective action concepts of tactics, frames and working utopias. This study may inspire more sociologically driven investigations of social support within health service contexts and the experiences of those subject to health-related stigma.

Keywords

• Weight management
• Social support
• Collective action
• Men's health
• Gender
• Obesity