View from Venus

6.5 Critiquing Self-Improvement Projects with Alison Fixsen

Episode Summary

In this week's episode, guest expert, Alison Fixsen, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Chair of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Research and Ethics Committee at the University of Westminster in London, England in the UK, joins us to talk about soft skills programs for women in higher education, orthorexia nervosa, and the obsessive focus on becoming the perfect you. Feel free to share your thoughts and responses with us on Instagram or Facebook and tag us @university_of_venus on IG or post it on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/UVenus/ and we will share and amplify! Find University of Venus on Instagram @university_of_venus and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/UVenus/

Episode Notes

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• Soft skills programs for female staff in higher education.
• Gender, eating disorders, and orthorexia nervosa. 
• The neoliberal project of constructing the perfect you. 

Resources Discussed in this Episode:

• Alison at University of Westminster
• Self-care and entrepreneurism: An ethnography of soft skills development for higher education staff
• Orthorexia Nervosa: the Medicalization of Extreme Healthy Eating Practices
• Arachne, self-care and ‘power-nets’ on women’s self-development programmes
• Shades of communitas: a study of soft skills programs
• I’m Skinny, I’m Worth More: Fashion Models’ Experiences of Aesthetic Labor and Its Impact on Body Image and Eating Behaviors
• What are the key features of Orthorexia Nervosa and influences on its development? A qualitative investigation?
• Feeling Our Way: An ethnographic exploration of university staff experiences of ‘soft skills’ learning and development programmes

Music Credits: Magic by Six Umbrellas

Sound Engineer: Ernesto Valencia