Understanding the relationship between built environment and obesity through a gendered lens

Behaviors formed during childhood and adolescence, shaped through interactions between family, social, and built environments, are inevitably influenced by sex and gender and are often carried across the lifecourse. However, in the context of childhood obesity, the contribution of risk due to sex versus gender are difficult to disentangle. In this presentation I will summarize recent public health literature on sex/gender differences in the effects of the built environment on obesity related outcomes among children and comment on how these effects are framed as an issue of sex or gender. While explanations often revolve around differing reactions to perceived risks of outdoor physical activity, little attention is paid to the differential effects of sex, which is a biological category, as opposed to gender, which is a social construct I argue that making a clearer distinction between sex and gender will lead to more informed study design and analysis. Borrowing theories and approaches from cultural geography, I will present an expanded discussion of sex, gender, and place within the context of findings from a secondary data analysis of the impact of the neighborhood built environment on sample of overweight and obese Hispanic youth in the Los Angeles area. I conclude that a gendered interpretation of the built environment, and clearer distinctions of the unique contributions of sex and gender on the relationship between the built environment and behavior through the lifecourse will give researchers a clearer understanding of the mechanisms by which places influence their population.