Original Article ‘Physician Heal Thyself’, Part 1: A qualitative analysis of an online debate about clinicians’ bodyweight Lee F. Monaghan Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, National Technological Park, Co. Limerick, Ireland. E-mail: lee.monaghan@ul.ie Abstract Physicians and other clinicians are being urged to regulate their weight and fight fat. This and a second paper (Monaghan, 2010) offer a qualitative analysis of an online debate on this issue. A webcast video editorial, roundtable discussion and over 200 postings on Medscape provide rich data for analysing various discursive framings. This paper introduces the online debate, describes the video editorial and roundtable discussion. Engaging members’ subsequent postings, one particular framing is then explored: the acquiescent. Here contributors disparaged overweight/obesity/fatness and personal (in)actions assumed to cause unwanted weight-gain, while stressing individual responsibility for ‘correcting’ this. Acquiescence comprised three main discursive strands: ensuring occupational credibility, the health rationale and rejecting other clinicians’ excuses. Analytically, these data are interpreted within a framework that is critical of obesity discourse, rather than critical of individuals who risk being discredited as overweight, obese or too fat. Social Theory & Health (2010) 8, 1–27. doi:10.1057/sth.2008.21 Keywords: obesity; fatness; clinicians; accounts; the Internet Introduction: Targeting White Coats in the War on Obesity Fat fighting has never been more salient. Amidst concerns about a global obesity epidemic (WHO, 1998), former US Surgeon General Richard Carmona (Carmona, 2003) provided further ammunition for the war on fat by claiming obesity is ‘more threatening than weapons of mass destruction’. Health professionals’ bodies are also being targeted within this moralized context. One r 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1477-8211 Social Theory & Health Vol. 8, 1, 1–27 www.palgrave-journals.com/sth/