Prior literature on Black women’s body image heavily relies on comparative studies to confirm Black women’s greater body satisfaction relative to white women. Collectively, these studies argue that “cultural buffers” exempt Black women from the thin ideal and instead, encourage women to embrace thickness as a mark of racial pride. And while the literature largely establishes Black women’s preference for a curvaceous figure, I take a different approach by examining women who describe failing to embody thickness and how they reconcile this conflict. Thus, this article asks how women negotiate body dissatisfaction when violating racialized bodily ideals. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 31 Black American women of diverse body sizes and shapes, I demonstrate how women rely on discursive frameworks such as healthism and the “strong Black woman” ideology to reconcile their self-image. While these discourses enable women to defend criticisms of violating thickness, they also participate in stigmatizing other forms of embodiment in their attempts to assuage body dissatisfaction. Overall, these findings reveal Black women’s agency to challenge idealized–and essentialized–notions of thickness that weighed heavily on their body image. Lastly, I discuss the broader implications of my findings within the literature of body politics and offer suggestions for future research.

有关黑人女性身体形象的现有文献在很大程度上依赖于比较研究，以证实黑人女性相对于白人女性的身体满意度更高。总的来说，这些研究认为，“文化缓冲”使黑人妇女摆脱了薄弱的理想，反而鼓励妇女接受粗俗的身材作为种族自豪感的标志。尽管文献在很大程度上确立了黑人女性对曲线美身材的偏爱，但我还是采用了另一种方法，即研究描述了无法体现体形的女性以及她们如何调和这种冲突。因此，本文提出了在违反种族化的身体理想时，妇女如何解决身体不满的问题。通过对31名身材各异，体形各异的美国黑人妇女进行深入访谈，我演示了女性如何依靠话语框架（例如健康主义和“坚强的黑人女性”意识形态）来调和自己的自我形象。尽管这些话语使妇女能够辩护对厚度过大的批评，但她们在减轻身体不满的尝试中也参与了污名化其他形式的体现。总体而言，这些发现揭示了黑人妇女机构要挑战的理想化和本质化厚度概念严重影响了她们的身体形象。最后，我在身体政治文献中讨论了我的发现的更广泛含义，并为以后的研究提供了建议。他们在减轻身体不满的尝试中也参与了污名化其他形式的体现。总体而言，这些发现揭示了黑人妇女机构要挑战的理想化和本质化厚度概念严重影响了她们的身体形象。最后，我在身体政治文献中讨论了我的发现的更广泛含义，并为以后的研究提供了建议。他们在减轻身体不满的尝试中也参与了污名化其他形式的体现。总体而言，这些发现揭示了黑人妇女机构要挑战的理想化和本质化厚度概念严重影响了她们的身体形象。最后，我在身体政治文献中讨论了我的发现的更广泛含义，并为以后的研究提供了建议。