Trained Podcast: Rethink Body Image With Sabrina Strings

Coaching

The perfect body doesn’t exist. Sociologist Sabrina Strings walks us through the complexity of society’s impossible ideal.

Last updated: November 24, 2022
2 min read
Sociologist Sabrina Strings on Unrealistic Body Standards

Trained is a podcast exploring the cutting edge of holistic fitness.

The ideal human body has been commercialized, stigmatized, fetishized and, yes, even racialized. For women, trying to achieve the “perfect” body is an unattainable and often traumatic pursuit that never seems to end. On this episode, Sabrina Strings, PhD, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, joins host Jaclyn Byrer to explain why this is and help us understand its impact on our individual and collective sense of well-being. Drawing from her book, Fearing the Black Body, she dives deep into diet culture, fat phobia, body positivity and the unsettled debate: Is obesity a disease?

“When I think about the term ‘fat liberation,’ I feel excited because it’s about getting free. It’s about confronting various forms of oppression that are harming all of us.”

Sabrina Strings
PhD, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Fearing the Black Body

Have a question about mindset, movement, nutrition, recovery or sleep? Have a suggestion for a guest or topic? Email Jaclyn at trained@nike.com, and she’ll see what she can do.

Originally published: December 8, 2022

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