Please join Annie Ting and Aurora De Lucia to learn more about their brilliant work on Thursday, February 27th from 12:00–1:30 on Zoom.

Abstracts of Annie and Aurora's talks are copied below.

Please RSVP using this form. A Zoom link will be shared with attendees before the event.

Annie Ting, "Body Experiences of Healthy-Weight Women in Weight Losing: An Analysis of Korean Women’s Diet Vlogs"
 

I intend to present a multidimensional perspective on women’s dieting experiences by examining the diet vlogs of healthy-weight Korean women on YouTube. While dieting is often understood as a response to social norms, I argue that it is also a deeply embodied experience. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), I explore how the interactions between the body, food, and technology co-construct dieting experiences beyond conventional narratives of restriction and harm. YouTube “diet vlogs” provide valuable material for understanding weight loss journeys. By analyzing 17 diet vlogs, I demonstrate that dieting is not a uniform practice but a complex and fluid process. Women engage with food not merely as a means of control but also as a source of pleasure; similarly, the weight scale serves as both a tool for validation and an unreliable indicator. In this paper, I highlight women’s agency in navigating their dieting experiences, challenging the simplistic view of women as passive subjects of dieting culture.

 
Aurora De Lucia, "Such a Good Guy"
 
A refrain that’s often said is, “How could a woman ever end up in an abusive relationship? It could never happen to me”… But could it? Abby leaves her abuser and meets a man who seems to be exactly the opposite, so non-threatening and beloved by all. In her vulnerable state, she and her new Prince Charming move a little fast and before you know it, she’s in so deep, it’s next to impossible to extricate herself as little breadcrumbs add up and he becomes more controlling - then a little more, a little more, then even more still. Was this actually the guy she needed to watch out for? When the world around her is telling her he’s “Such a Good Guy,” she loses trust in herself, which allows the problem to escalate quicker and deeper. Will she be able to escape dangerous men - even if the world might view them as “Such a Good Guy”?