Historical Basis of Dieting, Anorexia and Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders - image by Rega photography

Dieting, anorexia, and eating disorders that boomed in the 1980's and continue today - were actually set in motion a hundred years earlier.

Exploring the links between food and femininity, in her book, Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa, Joan Jacobs Brumberg made an intensive study of anorexia nervosa in America, and its connection to the social pressures on women to control their appetite.

Thinness in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Brumberg found that by 1890, thinness already reflected social levels and morality in that a thin waif-like body demonstrated the rejection of sexual cravings, which suited the Victorian ideal of femininity.

Later, the 20th century brought additional social pressures; the development of nutrition and standard-sized clothes and social changes were the foundations of the epidemic eating disorders, which became evident in the 1980s and 1990s and continue today.

Early in the 20th century, due to new tastes in fashion, fat became a negative issue for those interested in high fashion. At first, women purchased under-garments that molded their bodies into the desired shapes.

Fashion and Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders image by Rega photography

After World War 1, Gabrielle Chanel introduced the flapper. However, in order to look good in Chanel’s short dresses, the wearer had to pay attention to her legs and the smoothness of her form; special flattening "brassieres" were developed to aid this transformation and it became unfashionable to be well-rounded.

The ready-to-wear industry in America boomed from the French designs. Because of the simple cuts, Chanel’s garments were easy to copy and produce. In the 1920s, standard sizing was introduced, further emphasizing the idea of normative sizes and creating frustration and embarrassment for those who could not fit into stylish clothing.

Heavy women began to be excluded from mainstream fashion. As the century progressed and fashion photography became professionalized, models became slimmer to compensate for the distortions of the camera and beauty experts preached the principles of self-denial along with their promotion of creams and lotions. In 1902, Vogue announced, "it was better to commit a number of sins rather than be guilty of growing fat."

Weight-Control Book Published

To lend a hand to the fashion statements and feed the fasting propaganda, the first weight control book, in 1918, by Lulu Hunt Peters confirmed that fat was unfashionable. Peters' book was well-timed due to World War 1 food shortages since it became "more important than ever to reduce.” What’s more, it was among the first books to endorse the code of physical denial: women began to suffer to be beautiful rather than to be pious, and eating became viewed as a "pleasurable sin."

Overweight – A Medical Problem

In the 1940s, articles such as "What to do about the Fat Child at Puberty," "Reducing the Adolescent," and "Should the Teens Diet," increased the rising interest in adolescent weight control. In 1948, Seventeen magazine proclaimed "overweight" as a medical problem and began educating its young readers about calories and the psychology of eating.

Teenagers were encouraged to go on sensible diets of around 1,200 and 1800 calories a day. Messages such as "Nobody Loves A Fat Girl " advertised diet foods. Although adolescent girls were consistently warned against weight reduction without medical supervision, stories of transformations from fat to thin always provoked interest.

The "anorexic generations" particularly those born since 1960 have been subject to a set of insecurities. Increases in divorce, changing roles and disruptions in family lives are a part of the life of the anorexic.

Anorexia – Internal and Eternal Conflicts

According to research on anorexia, the disease develops because of internal and external forces. Although external forces alone do not generate psychopathologies, young women feel the pain of social change acutely, especially if there are conflicts as to which direction they should follow.

Unfortunately, it seems that the cult of diet and exercise is the closest thing society offers women in terms of an understandable philosophy of self. When personal and social difficulties arise, to escape and show control, a substantial number of young women become preoccupied with their bodies and sadly, despite liberalization, many young women, poor and privileged alike, still regard their body as their best vehicle for making a statement about their identity and dreams.

Source:

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. Fasting Girls, The History of Anorexia Nervosa, Vintage Books, 2000.

First published Jan 31, 2011 Lesley Lanir on Suite101.com as Anorexia and Eating Disorders – Their History

Copyright Lesley Lanir. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.