“Everybody Has the Right Size”: Theorizing Pluralistic Views of Body Size among Black Women in a South African Township

This article is a grounded theorizing study exploring pluralistic views of body size based on interviews with Black, big-bodied women living in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim is to articulate a system of beliefs that affirms the possibility that all body sizes can be the right size and defies the idea of intentional change in body size. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach, we introduce and explore three analytical categories: bodies as given, bodies as circumstantial, and maintaining bodies as given. The first category refers to viewing body size as predetermined and, to a very limited extent, changeable through intentional action. Changes are partly explained by natural events such as growing up, giving birth, and aging. The second category refers to assumed connections between body size and living conditions or mood, such as happiness or worry. The third category, maintaining bodies as given, complements the idea of bodies as given and provides an understanding of changes in body size that are not covered by the idea of circumstantial bodies. This article shows how these ideas encourage efforts toward maintaining body size rather than changing it.