Feminist Lunch Series - Pyramidal Prejudices Fatphobia Femininity Faith in Multi-level Marketing Companies-FR

Event date(s): February 20, 2026
Time(s): 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Category: Fredericton
Location: Fredericton

Event Details:

Please mark your calendars for the first talk of our Winter 2026 Feminist Lunch Series to be given on Friday, Feb. 20 at 12:30 pm in the Tilley Hall, room 28 (basement), on UNB Campus in Fredericton by Dr. Andrea Bombak.

Just a reminder: t​his year our focus at the Feminist Lunches will be on all aspects of Women's Health with talks on a variety of topics of interest.

The talk is titled: Pyramidal Prejudices: Fatphobia, Femininity, & Faith in Multi-level Marketing Companies.  

Abstract: In multi-level marketing companies (MLMs), agents sell products and assemble sales teams, ‘downlines’, from whose sales they receive a commission or bonus. MLMs are controversial because their pyramid distribution model favours few agents who join early. MLMs historically recruit members of religious groups that may endorse restrictive gender roles and body expectations, and many MLMs sell weight-loss, appearance, and wellness products. This presentation draws from the findings of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded study analyzing the intersections of fatphobic, post-feminist, and faith-based discourses in the Instagram postings of a supplement MLM and related implications for women.
 
Dr. Bombak is a critical weight, health services, and public health scholar whose research critically explores messaging and policy concerning the “obesity epidemic” and the lived experience of weight stigma. She has led qualitative projects on bariatric surgery, body acceptance, post-secondary food education, and understandings of weight and health in Canada and the USA. She is the co-principal investigator of a mixed-method study, which examines the marketing strategies used to sell Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy. The project she is talking about for this talk explores fatphobic, faith-based, and postfeminist (Girlboss) messaging in Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) social media posts.
 

All are welcome! There will be coffee and cookies.

The Feminist Lunch Series is organized by: UNB/STU University Women’s Centre, UNB Gender & Women’s Studies Program, UNB Libraries and UNB Alumnae association. 

For more information on the series, contact Sophie Lavoie (lavoie@unb.ca).

Building: Tilley Hall

Room Number: 28

Contact: Angela Peters
1 506 453 4762
Angela.Peters@unb.ca