Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West 0814780695, 9780814780695

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l'at Histoq1

l'at Histoq, Bodies and Beauty in the Modem West

PETER N. STEARNS

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London

NEW YORK UNIVERSI1Y PRESS New York and London Copyright © 1997 by New York University All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stearns, Peter N. Fat history: bodies and beauty in the modem West I Peter N. Stearns. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: The turning point-The medical path :physicians and faddists- Fat as a tum-of-the-century target : why?- The misogynist phase : 192os-196os-Stepping up the pace :old motives, new methods-Fat city: American weight gains in the twentieth century-The evolution of weight control in FranceThe French regime-Atlantic crisscross : the Franco-American contrasts-Conclusion : the fat's in the fire. ISBN o-8147-8o6l· )ogg"s Sale Fat Redurer and n book of Photo~r&phs aod restimoni&l!l. FiiJ in your name aod addrf>!! on the blank linc1111 bf.Jov• and Pnd4l:::P 10 cents in sih·er or stamps a'5 an e\·irtPnC'e of good faith nnd to help co,·er po~tage and pe.cki~. anrt by r~turn mail you v.-iU receive a ~1. 00 pac-kaste prepaid. F . J . KPiloj!.~. 3158 Kellol!.~ Bldg .• Battle Creek , Mich.

Xarne Stret>t Xo

City anrl State ... .. .

The quick commercial appeal: this notice, in Woman Beautiful, 1910, drew 13;,ooo replies by 194. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Reduced

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From dowdy droop to thin-waisted model, thanks to the loss of 50 pounds. A typical Ladies' Home Journal presentation from the 1950s ( fanuary 1955, 75).

GREAT NEW MESSAGE OF

HEALTH "How to Banish Disease, Live 100 Years" s. PRO P PAUL C. BRI\GC;f& ltrttrMfiDn.t/rK1t0¥1tt

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Standards of the 1930s. Touting slimness, Vogue's swimsuit advertisement also suggest the difference in rigor from postwar French standards. From Vogue, June 1937, IJO.

The aesthetic of extreme slendemess, through careful eating. A transatlantic image, but with greater visual intensil)• in the French rendering. From Prima, fune 1996, 127.

IN:'lOVATION

BRE\'ETEE

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La cellulite oubliee, la minceur affirmee.

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f!l.aiii« passim. 15. Deception and Fraud in the Dieting Industry: Hearing, House Subcommittee on Regulations, Business Opportunities and Energy of the Committee on Small Business, 101st Cong., 2d sess., Mar. 26, 1990; Hilde Bruch, "Psychological Aspects of Reducing," Psychosomatic Medicine 4 (1952): 338. Bruch comments

274

I

Notes to Chapter Five

further on how it was "hard to overestimate the intensity of the cultural rejection of even mild forms of overweight, particularly in the well-to-do urban population" and how doctors explicitly shared and furthered this moral judgment. I6. Abigail Wood, "Why Do I Make Myself Fat?" Seventeen (Mar. I973): 28; "Dieting When You're Unhappy," Seventeen (May I969): 43; Bruch, "Psychological Aspects," 337-48; Stanley W. Conrad, "The Problem of Weight Reduction in Obese Women," American Practitioner and Digest of Treatment 5 ( I954): 38-39; John D. Comrie, "Advances in Dietetics," Practitioner I39 (I939): 368; Chernin, Obsession, 44; Robert Linn, The Last Chance Diet Book (New York, 1976); Peter Wyden, "Night Eating," LHJ (Apr. I965): 38; "Ladies Home Journal Diet Club," LHJ (Apr. 1969): 98. I7. "Dieter's Clipboard," Seventeen (Dec. 1962): I23- In I953 Mrs. Helen Fraley was the center of attention in the LHJ as a heroic dieter, with major emphasis on its impact on her romantic appeal. See also, for medical comment on slenderness and sexuality, Edward Weiss. "Psychosomatic Aspects of Dieting," Journal of Clinical Nutrition I (I953): 140. I8. For the standard medical approach of the interwar years, James M. Anders, "Obesity and its Treatment," Atlantic Medical Journal 26 (I923-24): 498-501; on cholesterol, E. Neige Todhunter, "The Food We Eat," Journal of Health Education 50 (I958): 5I2-13; Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty, a social history of eating in modem America (New York, I993), 135-36. I9. Theodore Rubin, The Thin Book (New York, I966), n, 45· 20. Herman Taller, Calories Don't Count (New York, 196I); Comrie, "Advances," 368. 21. Emma Seifrit Weigly, "A\•erage? Ideal? Desirable? A Brief Overview of Weight Tables in the United States," Journal of the American Dietetic Association (April I984): 4I7-23; Artemis Simopoulos and Theodore B. Van Hallie, "Bad Weight, Health, and Longevity," Annals of Internal Medicine (Feb. 1984): 285-- 1oo, us art, 100, '1.'1.0-ll artisans, '1.'1.0, r1.3, '1.40 Association Allegro fortissimo, n6 Atlas, Charles, 75, ~. 105 Atwater, Wilbur, '1.9, 34 Baker, Bettye, u1 Banting, William, u, 1.4. 74> 158

bantingism, 8, 11 Barbie dolls, ~ Bardot, Brigitte, 18o, 18'1. Barth, Kay, 101 bathing suits, 87, 99, 170, 179, 18'1.-83 Bayard, Emile, 161 Bayliss, Jessica, 105 beauty contests, 7'1., '1.18 belts, 99· 175 Bergman, Ingrid, 18o Bergonnie machine, 161 Bernhardt, Sarah, u, 159 bicycles, u, '1.3, 57, 161, 175 Binion, Rudolph, 16o birth control, 6'1.-63, 86, 93, 138, 153, 156, 100, 191, '1.21, '1.4% blood pressure, '1.6, 36, 41, 81, 101, 109, 16'1. boarding houses, r1.9 body, standardization of, '1.49 books, 107 Bouchard, Charles, 157, 1~ boys. See men bread, 155, 161, 171, 181, :w3, '1.13, ns Brillat-Savarin, 14 17'1., '1.04> '1.'1.4-:z:s, n7, '1.28 Britain, '1.45 "broad," 81 Bruch, Hilde, 117, 119, :w6 bulimia, 104. '1.5'1. Bush, Barbara, 103 businessmen, 54> 75 butter, r1.3 Byron (Lord), 6

290

I

Index

calisthenics, 12 calories, 27, 30, 36, 39, m, 124, 154, 172, 18o, 1S2, 1S6, 213

Cosmopolitan, 34> 35. 117

Calvinism, 55, 243 camps, 82, 122 Canada, 229 cancer, 101, 215

Courbet, Gustave, 183 crackers, 230

candy, 143-44, 197 Catabolic diet, 32 Catholicism, 221, 240, 243 causation, 4-5, 1S, 43-47, 4S, 6S, ~--89, 195· 201, 213, 217-46 cellulite, 179, 1S4> 1S5, 1S6, 207 character, 46, 54, 6o, 65, 114, 117, 126, 168, 202-3, 265 chefs, 223 chewing, 33, 197 chic, no Child Study Association, 76 children, 6, 30, 31, 57-5S, 63, 75-78, S5, 9~7· 100, 133· 137-45· 156, 162, 172, 179, 1S4, 195-201, :uS--19, 226, 231, ~.

cuisine, 155. 1S6, 188, 207, 223

culoUe de cheval, 1S4. 205 death, 26, So, 162 Deboux, Gaston, 173 degenerative disease, 26, 45, 101, 165 Deneuve, Catherine, 185 Department of Agriculture, 29 department stores, 57, 237-38 Depression (1930s), '43· 193 depression, 147• 252 Desbonnet gyms, 162 dietetics, 233 disgust, 83, 171, 183, 205, 232-46 divorce, 58

Chittenden, Russell, 29, 34• 36, 37• 38, 163 chocolate, 230 cholesterol, 100, 102, no, 181--82, 215 Christianity, ;-6, 49, 54, 59, 97, 153 Christmas, 57 chrome pill, 185, 207 Cinderella, 83 class structure, 245 Clinton, Bill, 103 Club dietetique, 209 Club Med, 135 clubs, 82 coca cola, 180

doctors, 25-44> 53, 59, 66, 74-75, 7~1, 101, 105, 108, 110, Ill, 1J4, 116, 120, 124, 134, I# 157· 162-64> 165, 168, 171-72, 177-78, 184> 189, 19Q, 199, 202-4, 219, 254-55 dolls, 57, 89 drinking, 62, 156, 218 Dubin, AI, 88 Durkheim, Emile, 239 Durville, Gaston, 164

Ebony, 89-92, 123

Cocroft, Susanna, 19, 74• 105 Cocteau, jean, 220 Colette, 220

108, 117, 147-48, 155· 237-# 245 cookbooks, S2, 99, 105, 233 Corbett, Gentleman Jim, n

creams, 105-6, 1S4, 185, 187, 206-7 cubism, 16o, no

Disney,~

258--59 Chittenden pills, 20

Communist party, 174, 193 Comstock, Anthony, 12, 56, 62 consumerism, 54-59, 67, 71, 87-SS,

corsetry, 7, 9· 13, 14 17, 18, 19, 92, 158--59, 166,175 cosmetics, 88, 174

96,

Edsell, David, 37 Eisenhower, Dwight, 149 Elias, Norbert, 249 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 10 emotion, 4, 54, 78, 85, uS, 141, 203, 2o6, 214, 251-52 endocrine causes, 30 Enlightenment, 157, 250 Esquire, 82, 99 Eugenie, empress, 50, 159 Euro-Disney, xi, n8

Index exercise, 3S, 40, 49· 52-53, 105, 107, 120,

137• 161, 162, 203, 207, 215

~~.

175 • 1S2, 1S 5-S6, 1q8,

face lifts, 1S5 faddists, 17-21, 25, 32-40, 79 fashion, 3· 7· 11-17, 45· ~. 51-52, 55· 56. 74· 79. So, S9, 99. 103, 15S, 165~. 168-

70, 179· lSI, IS9. 204-5. 21 252

Macfadden, Bemarr, 17, 18, 19, 21, 51, 74> 76 Meadows, Rosalyn, 73 meat, 28, 33, 114, 156, 197, 201, 215, 225, 227 men, 16-17, 19, 72, 75-76, 85, 88, 91, 92,

obstetricians, 81, 183 Overeaters Anonymous, 108, 110, 122, 210

96, 98--104, 162, 16q, 173, 189-91 Men's Health Magazine, 104

pacifier, 198 painting, 8, n

Index Parents' Magazine, 144 pathology, 15; Patten, Simon, 22, 61

Rubrier, Max, 27 Rush, Benjamin, 157, 229 Russell, Lillian, 11, 20, 22, 74

peasants, 155, 196, 226 pediatricians, ~1-42, 199 Pediatrics, 77 Perin, Michel, 188

salons, 17, 20, 97 Sargent, 11

Philadelphia Cook Book. 22 Phillips, David Graham, 22, 54 Physical Culture, 17 pie, 10, 226 Pittsburgh Press, 19 plumpness, 8, 24, 26, 54· 75• 153, 166-67, 193· 200, 225 Pocahantas, 8-4 Poiret, Paul, 159 politics, 221, 243-+4· 259 population (French), 156, 159. 221 populism, 241 pornography, 12, 62, 222 Post, Emily, 79 posture, 4 power, 88 pregnancy, 7, 8, 81, 109, 12..f, 183 Presbyterians, 54 Proust, :'darcel, 220 psychiaby, 83, 101, 118--19, 2o6 psychology, 202, 206, 238

puericulture, 156, 193, 196--2o1 Puritanism, 6, 243. 244 Quetelet, A., 157, 211-12 race, 89-93 ready-to-wear, 18, 181 Reconstruction, 92 religion, 5-6, 49· 54-s6. 6o, 62, 6s, 83, 90· 107, IQ9, 120, 121, 47• 2f0, 24J, 247, 251 Rengo products, 19 restaurants, 223, 227 Rockefeller, John D., 33 rock stars, 102 Rodgers and Hammerstein, 89 Romanticism, 6, 158 Roosevelt, Theodore, 17 Roper, Mrs., 15 Rubens, Peter Paul, 8

I 293

Saint-Cyr, 201

scales, 20, 27, 105, 49, 176, 184 Scarsdale diet, 207 schools, 43, 197, 201 Schwartz, Hillel, 4• ;o, 51, 127 Scientific American, 34 Second Empire, 159, Seneca, 157 Seventeen, 107, 119 sexism, 77

=

sexuality, 4• 7• 43· 45· 54· ;6, 62-63, 83, 86--87, 93--94• 162, IOC)-10, 1~, 222 Sherman, Henry, 42 sin, 6, 6f-65, 122, 47 Sinclair, Upton, 35, 37, 54 slob, 17, 21, ;o, 74, 120 sluts, 87 smoking, 24, 25, 91, 117, 213, 24, 2f4, 257 snacks, x, 135, 137, 43-45, 184, 156, 197, 201, 213, 228, 23cr32, 257-58 soap, 16o, 175 socialism, 239-40 speeding, 254 sphygmomanometer, 102 Spock, Benjamin, 43-44 sports, 12, 38, 40, 76, 78, 94o 175, 178 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 8 starches, 14 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 7 sugar, 161, 226, 246 Sullivan, John L., 9, 11, 16 sundae, 175 Superman, 102 surgery, 184, 186, 207, 222 Taft, William Howard, 5, 22, 103 tailors, 173-74, 189 tanning, 254 television, 102, 45, 222 temperance, 55, 62 th}TOid pills, 163, 170, 172, 175, 178

294

I

Index

time (eating), 217, 229 toplessness, 182, 217 toys, 57 Tramar, Countess de, 166--67 Tremolieres, Jean, 182, H)O, 202, 2.42 triscuits, 161 Trollope, Anthony, 230 tuberculosis, 26, 40, 156, 196 Turner, Lana, 73 U-Haul rental company, 115 ugliness, 205, 210, 216 underweight, 7rr.77, m, 41.-43, 199, 253 unemployment, 48

=

vacations, 182, 193, van Noorden, Karl, 28, 38 Veblen, Thorsten, 59, 241 vegetarianism, 33, 36, 164 vibrators, 20, 74 Vichy water, 18 Victorianism, 5, 7, 44 57, 62, 83, 85, 88, 93~4

Vittel, 161 Vogue, 13, 170 Voit, Carl, 28 Volney, Constantine, 228, 229

Warren, Harry, 88 Warren, Mrs., 15, 18 water cures, 8 Watson, James, 86 weaning, 197 weight, patterns of, 129-34 weight tables, 37, 42, 44 74 99, m-13, 129-34 46, 157· 179· 182, 202-3 Weight Watchers, 72, 107-8, 180, 184 209 Weil belt, 99 Weiss, Lillie, 73 wellness programs, 115 West Point, 201 West Virginia, 136 Wharton, Edith, 23 Wheeler, Elmer, 101-3 Wolf, Naomi, 73 women, 4 u-17, 49-50, 63~ 71~, 100, us. 144 155· 156. 161, 166--67, !68, 177·

179· 184 18~1. 192. 198, 215, 221, 225, 2 3'2· 2 37·

241-42

work, sB-59· 92, 96. 14-15, 121, 217, ~.

25(r.57 World War I, 23, 26 World War II, 105, 177 Worth, Mary, 84 Wright, Thomas, 6

Votre beaute, 169, 170 Yoruba, 92 Wadsworth, Ruth, 8o Walker, Emma, 15 Wallace, Mrs. (plan), 105

Zeno, Michelle, 70 Zola, Emile, 15

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